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APPLICATION OF JAMES HAINES 

AdministraioT of the Estate of 

JONATHAN HAINES. Dkceased. «' 

FOR THK 

Extension of Letters Patent of said Jonathan Haines. 



lUSON HltOTHKRS, PRINTERS. WASHIXfJTON. 



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To the Hon. Senate and House of Representatives^ : 

Gentlemen — ^'The policy of the law is to compensate tlie in- 
ventor , and if this ohject be not attained by a first extension, 
there would seem to be justice in a second. But this can only be 
done by .ict of Congress." 

The above remarks were made by Judge McLean, in the case 
of Bloomer vs. Stolley, (5 McLean's Rep., pp. 160, 161,) and are 
clear and concise statements of the conditions upon which Con- 
gress should predicate their action. The evidence submitted to 
your lionorable body answers fully the points suggested in tlic 
decision of this eminent jurist, whose practical mind grasped, as 
by intuition, the facts in each case before him. It is difficult to 
decide in ail cases what remuneration, or what profits, an inven- 
tion may be legitimately entitled to, by reason of his disclosure, 
by an invention that may become the subject of a patent. This 
depends in a great degree upon the importance and general 
utility of such invention ; if in its use and adaptation it is 
co-extensive with the boundaries of our common country, it is of 
more value to the country than if limited to a particular locality 
or State, and the verdict to be given should embrace these con- 
ditions. Nearly all the States of this Union, all in a greater or 
less degree agricultural States, require the use of just such 
machines as the one invented by Haines, and particularly is this 
the case in the Southern and "Western States, where this ma- 
chine has been most used. In the former, (the Southern,) it has 
been or was impossible to introduce them during any portion of 
the time of the first extension, from causes consequent upon the 
rebellion, and the complete disruption of nearl}^ all kind of 
mechanical pursuits and labor, and even to the present moment 
there is a want of ability, if not of disposition, to embark 
in the extensive culture of fields, requiring the aid of such labor- 
saving machines as the one submitted to your consideration. Harl 
this avenue of sale continued open to Haines, he might have been 
able to liave reaped such advantages from his invention as to have 
precluded the necessity of this application to your honorable 
body. The amount of remuneration or profits to be received by 
an inventor should be a ^^ reasonahle amount ;" such is the le2;al 



2 

construction given to that clause of the statute governing exten- 
sions. 

In determining what is reasonable, the nature of the invention, 
its general uses, its benetits to that branch of trade or traffic to 
which it is adapted, and to the public at large, enter largely, if 
not entirely, into the consideration of the case. If it is apparent 
that millions of dollars are thus saved by the use of a particular 
invention, the remuneration and profits should be far greater 
than if the benefits to the public will aggregate only thousands 
of dollars. The imagination can hardly conceive, much less de- 
termine in dollars and cents, tlie value to the public of the loco- 
motive, the loom, tlie telegraph, the cotton-gin, and numerous 
other inventions that might be specified. Any stated sum might 
appear fabulous, were it not that the public mind, with common 
accord, ascribes to them untold worth and value. Approximately 
is the same true of the subject-matter before you. It is within 
tlie memory of nearly all, if not all, of the members of this Com- 
mittee, when such machines as Harvesters were entirely un- 
known ; while now our fields are covered by these great aids and 
lielp to man, performing their work with an intelligence almost 
human^ and with a power that excites our greatest wonder and 
astonishment. 

The prayer for relief herewith presented by the widow and 
children of Jonathan Haines is Avorthy of j^our attention, because 
it is based on public services really eminent, though unobtrusive 
in their nature, and unappreciated. The American people owes 
its proud position in the first rank among nations to its inventors 
more than to any other one class of its citizens. To them the 
world owes the telegraph, the marine engine, the cylinder press^ 
the sewing machine, the thousands of minor but scarcely less 
valuable inventions and improvements in the arts and sciences ; 
.and hardly second in importance to any of them, the reaping ma- 
chine. It is impossible to estimate the material value of these 
inventions to the public, or to comprehend how any inventor can 
be overpaid for an invention bestowed upon the public. It is a 
common fiite of meritorious inventors to meet disappointment and 
defeat. Sometimes it happens that an invention is in advance of 
the times, when tlie public Avants have not yet prepared for it a 
I'avorable rece2:)tion ; the fate of such an inventor is a truly lament- 
able one — and such was Jonathan Haines. In 1849, notwitli- 



standiDg the attention of the agricultural population was already 
turning toward labor-saving machinery, still labor was compara- 
tively clieap^ and no very pressing want was felt ; the old-fashioned 
cradle and scythe were still efficient to harvest the yearly crops. 
It is not difficult, therefore, to see that the invention of a machine 
striding at one step to the utmost bounds of utility and economy, 
accomplishing so much, and going so far beyond existing stand- 
ards, should be misunderstood and unappreciated by the public. 

From time immemorial, grain had been cut near the base of 
the stalks ; the machine invented by Jonathan Haines cut it near 
the heads. By the old method, the mass of straw required to be 
handled several times before the grain could finally be separated 
and secured. With this machine, the straw being left standing 
upon the ground, was not handled at all. With the machine in- 
vented by Jonathan Haines, seven hands, (three of whom may be 
boys.) with the assistance of three wagons and ten horses, could 
easily cut and secure twenty-five acres of grain per day — a quan- 
tity which would require the employment of more than sixty men 
and eight horses under the good old time-honored methods witli 
the cradle, in vogue up to, and subsequent to the time when this 
invention was made. 

It may be said that no man Avould hesitate to adopt a method 
which at once would reduce a certain item of expense to one-ninth 
its former amount. But such is not the result of experience. 
The ]nore startling and brilliant are results, ihe more reluctant 
is the public mind to believe in their genuineness. 

Such an innovation would naturally excite the incredulity and 
astonishment of a class of men whose faith in machinery is even 
now not over abundant. 

So meritorious is this invention, and so deserving is this appli- 
cation for your bounty, that a plain statement of the merits of the 
case is the most powerful argument which can be adduced in its 
favor. 

Though this patent has been once extended, still the utmost ex- 
ertions on the part of the inventor have been unavailing to place 
the manufacture of his machine on such a footing as to render 
success assured, especially Avhen it is considered that the late war, 
and its effects immediately succeeding, covered the greater part 
of the extended period, and almost annihilated his manufac- 
turing })usiness. He contended until his latest hours against 



the prejudices of the agriculturists, stimulated in every way 
by those who were his rivals in business — the manufacturers of 
harvesting machines operating in a different way. In tlus case 
it was not a question as between different machines of the same 
class J but between different classes of machines ; and when, on 
the one hand, great numbers and ample capital are in possession 
of tlie field, and arrayed against struggling but impecunious 
merit, it will be easily understood why the contest has been a long 
one. The statements herewith submitted show that there has 
been a constant increase in the demand for these machines, and 
it is estimated that there are at present more than four thousand 
of them in use. In view of the testimony submitted, it cannot be 
doubted that the machine is one of present utility. The affiants 
all agree that the cost of reaping and securing grain, when the 
Haines machine is employed, is SI.50 per acre less than with any 
other machine in use. It is also estimated that each machine is 
capable of harvesting, say 300 acres, during a single season ; and 
this represents a saving to the public of §450 per season for every 
macliine which is fully employed ; and supposing there to be 
■1,000 machines in use, we have $1,800,000 yearly saving to the 
grain-growing agriculturists who use the Haines machine. 
There are, however, more than 4,000 machines in use, but they 
are not all iully employed ; and it will not, perhaps^ be far from 
the truth if it is estimated that, to the users of Haines' inacliines. 
there is now a yearly saving of $1,000,000. 

The average yearly ratio of increase in the number of inachines 
manufactured during the past seven years is more than 50 per 
cent.; but adopting that as a reasonable ratio for the next seven 
years, we shall have manufactured during that period 55,002 
machines, representing a yearly saving to the public of $24, 750,- 
900. But each of these machines serves for a number of years, 
say six, as a low average ; we should therefore multiply by six to 
obtain the actual result, viz : |148, 505, 400 saved to the country 
by the manufacture of these machines during the ensuing seven 
years. And this amount may be increased by about §12,500,000, 
due to the use of these machines during the past twenty-one years, 
nuiking a total of $161 ,005,400. Contrast this material benefit to 
the public with the §46,000, one-half of which represents tlie 
revenue derived bv the inventor therefrom, and which is all lie 



could boast after twenty-oue years of constant personal labor, and 
the employment of all the capital he could command. 

If this invention should now be utterly withdrawn from public 
use, no member of your honorable body would hesitate to admit 
that the reward has not been commensurate with the benefits be- 
stowed. But the invention will not be withdrawn from public use. 
Every year in the future, while wheat and rye and oats are grown 
in our fields, these machines will serve us. There is nothing hypo- 
thetical about these estimates. They are the deliberate opinions 
of men of sound judgment and practical acquaintance with the 
subject — men who are personally known to members of your hon- 
orable bodv as beinsr in everv wav reliable. 

It may be supposed that the grant of this extension will im- 
pose a burden upon agriculturists ; but such cannot be the case. 
The demand for these machines is not yet, and will not for many 
years, be so great that it cannot be supplied by a few establish- 
ments. The demand, therefore, cannot rerjuire that its manu- 
facture should be thrown open to public competition. It is only 
after a manufacture has been expanded to its utmost limits, when 
a public necessity has been created, that the manufacturer can 
presume to impose exorbitant charges for his wares. Until the 
public necessity 7ms been created, it is the manufacturer's interest 
to sell his wares at a reasonable rate, for then his prime motive 
is to extend his market. If, therefore, the prayer of this petition 
is refused, the efiect cannot be to materially cheapen these machines 
to the public, except at the expense of efficiency and durability. 

To you is left the determination of the results in this proceed- 
ing, and we invoke your careful and earnest consideration of the 
merits of this application. These results alTcct deeply the heirs 
of a meritorious inventor, the better part of whose life was bound up 
in this creation of his genius ; it was his one thought, one hope, 
one ambition, to make it a benediction to his brother-man, as well 
as to furnish him with that reasonable hire of which a laborer is; 
worthy in every vocation. 

Respectfully, &c,, 

13. F. JAMES, 
R. D. 0. SMITH. 

Counsel for Petition', r 



LETTERS PATENT. 

[No. 331.] 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

To all to whom these letters 2)eitent shall come: 

Whereas Jonathan Haines, of Pekin, 111. has alleged that 
he has invented a new and useful improvement in Harvesting 
Machines (for which letters patent were issued to him dated 27th 
March, 1849 ; which letters having been surrendered by him^ the 
same have been cancelled & new letters ordered to issue to him 
on an amended specification,) which he states has not been known 
or used before his application has made oath that he is a citizen 
of the United States that he does verily believe that he is the 
original and first inventor or discoverer of the said improvement 
and that the same hath not to the best of his knowledge and belief 
been previously known or used ; has paid into the Treasury of the 
United States the sum of Fifteen Dollars and presented a petition 
to the Commissioner of Patents signifying a desire of obtaining 
an exclusive property in the said improvement and praying that a 
patent may be granted for that purpose These are Therefore to 
grant according to law to the said Jonathan Haines, his heirs ad- 
ministrators or assigns for the term of Fourteen years from the said 
Twenty-seventh day of March one thousand eight hundred and 
Forty-nine, the full and exclusive right and liberty of making 
constructing using and vending to others to be used the said 
Improvement a description whereof is given in the words of the 
said Haines in the schedule hereunto annexed and is made a 
part of these pi^esents. 

In testimony whereof I have caused these Letters to be made 
Patent and the Seal of the Patent Office has been hereunto 
affixed Given under my hand at the city of Washington, 
[l. s.] this sixth day of November in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five and of the inde- 
pendence of the United States of America the Eightieth. 

GEORGE C. WHITING, 

Adiny Secretary of the Interior. 

Countersigned and sealed with the seal of the Patent Office. 

C. MASON, 

Commissioner of I'atents. 



THE SCHEDULE REFERRED TO IX THESE LETTERS PATENT AND .AIAKINU 
PART OF THE SAME. 

To (ill vliom it man <'"^^''^^'>^ ■ 

Be it known, that 1 Jonathan Haines, fornierly of Union Grove, 
in the county of Whiteside, and State of Illinois, but now of Pekin, 
in the county of Tazewell, and State aforesaid, have invented cer- 
tain new and useful improvements in Harvesting Machines for 
Grain or Grass, and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, 
clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to 
the accompanyin": drawings making a part thereof, in which 
Fig. 1 rei3resents view of the entire machine 
Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken through the line x x of fig. 1. 
Fig. 3 is a plan, and 

Fig. 4, a side elevation of one of the slotted fingers, which ad- 
vance before the sickle, for the pur]')ose of supporting the straw 
while the knife cuts it off. 

Wliere the same letters occur in tlie several figures, they denote 
like parts. 

The leading difficulty in all harvesting machines, the cutters 
of which were raised or lowered by a lever, previous to my inven- 
tion, was the very great excess of weight on the forward part of 
the machine, which ultimately came upon the necks of the horses. 
To obviate this great difficulty, resort was had to an extra truck 
or pair of trucks forward of the machine, which besides its ad- 
ditional cost, caused the team to be placed so far in advance of the 
machine as to make it impossible to turn a square corner without 
backing the team. If the team were harnessed directly to the 
tongue, and the machine properly balanced on its wheels, a cor- 
ner could be as readily turned by it as by an ordinary cart, but 
with the former lieavy weight forward, the driver alone could not 
properly control the machine, and to place an additional attendant 
on the machine involved additional weight on the machine, at an 
additional daily cost to the user. 

The object of my invention was to avoid these serious conse- 
quences, by relieving the team of all undue work^ and economiz- 
ing to the user both in the cost of the machine and the daily 
expense of using it. 

The nature of my invention consists in combining with the 
frame of a harvesting machine so hung upon a pair of support- 



ing wheels, as to be nearly balanced thereon, when on level 
ground, a hlnged-tongue and operating lever, which lever shall be 
attached to one, and project towards the driver's seat or» stand, 
arranged on the other, so that the driver who is the sole conduc- 
tor of the machine, may from said stand or seat, raise or depress 
the cutters at pleasure during the operation of the machine, for 
cutting the grain or grass at any suitable height above the ground, 
or for passing over any intervening obstacles. And also in com- 
bining with a harvesting machine a conveyor, which first carries 
the cut grain horizontally across the machine, and then elevates 
it so as to discharge it into the bed of a wagon driven alongside 
of the machine, when the conveyor-frame is connected to the bed 
by a flexible joint, for purposes which will be described. 

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my inven- 
tion I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the 
drawings. 

In the accompanying drawings the machine is represented as 
being mounted upon three wheels, the two in front A' A', sus- 
taining the 2)rincipal part of the w^eiglit_, the one behind B, being 
chiefly designed for steering, and in order that it may the better 
accomplish that object it is mounted in a vertical post B', which 
is hung upon hinges, and capable of being turned by a tiller h in 
manner of the rudder of a vessel. 

The horses are harnessed to the whipple-trees «, which are 
secured by a bolt to the tongue C, and push the machine before 
them. The tongue C is hinged to the rear end of the square part 
D, of the frame-work, and the lever E, which projects back from 
the frame is engaged by means of a catch to the notches in the 
sides of the post c, erected upon the tongue, this catch being so 
constructed that it can with ease be disengaged, and re-engaged. 
The frame D, rests upon the axes of the wheels A A', which form 
a fulcrum upon which it turns, and the projecting lever E, being 
attached firmly to this frame, whenever it is raised or lowered, it 
depresses or elevates the front of the machine, and thus deter- 
mines the height at which the grain or grass is to be cut ; the 
catch which engages the arm to the notched post c, holding it at 
any point of elevation at which it may be required to place it. A 
platform C, is placed upon the rear end of the tongue, upon 
which the driver, who is the sole conductor of the machine stands, 
convenient to the tiller h, and the lever E, in order that he may 



direct the cuiirse of tlie machine, and raise and hnver the cutter to 
accommodate it to the variations iw the surface of the ground, or 
the height of the grain, hy this means avoiding both waste of t1ie 
grain and the inconvenience of cutting too much straw. 

The principal frame D, may be made of plank or scantling 
well framed together. It carries the sickle F, reel G, conveyor 
H, and the gearing which puts them severally in motion. Upon 
the wheel A, or upon its axis, a cog-wheel D is secured which 
takes into and drives the pinion e, (represented in dotted lines,) 
upon whose axis a pulley /, which through the medium of the 
belt </, turns the axis /i, (fig. 2,) which carries the wheel i (fig. 
•2,) that drives the conveyor H. To the side of the pulley / a 
crank-pin K, is secured, which through the connecting rod L 
communicates a horizontal vibrating motion to the lever m, which 
is transmitted to the sickle F, connected by a pivot n, to its front 
end. 

The axis of the pinion e, is capable of sliding longitudinally on 
its bearings sufficiently far to disengage it from the wheel d, 
when the machine is rerjuired to be moved without putting the 
conveyor or sickle in motion. For the purpose of disengaging 
and re-engaging this pinion with facility^ the forked end of a rod 

0, is engaged either to it or the shaft by any of the iTsual modes, 
tlie other end of this rod being jointed to the lever 2^, which is 
pivoted to the frame D, at one end and jointed to the rod q at the 
other, the latter resting upon the lever E and extending back far 
enough to be within the reach of the conductor ; this rod is pro- 
vided with two catches, whicli when engaged will respectively 
liold the pinion c in or out of gear with the wheel d. The endless 
conveyor H, is for tlie purpose of elevating the cut grain into the 
bed of a wagon which accompanies the machine to receive the 
same. That portion of the conveyor which is immediately behind 
the sickle is horizontal, but the part projecting beyond the side of 
the machine is inclined at a suitable angle for raising the grain 
over the side of the box of the accompanying wagon. That part 

1, of the frame in which the inclined part of the conveyor is sup- 
ported, is hinged to the side of the frame D, as seen in figure 2, and 
its outer end is raised and lowered by the cord U, passing through 
a slot or notch in the top of the post J, and secured to a bail v' , 
which arrangement renders the conveyor capable of elevating the 
grain to different heights, and also allows the frame I, to yield 



10 

when it comes iu contact with obstructions that might break it if 
it were rigidly connected to tlw^ frame. 

The conveyor consists of two parallel endless belts passing 
round the driving-pulley or wheel i, the bearing-pulley r, and 
the stretching-pulley s. These belts are held at tlie proper dis- 
tance apart by slots t, and the whole is covered by a web of cloth, 
which is loose enough to bag down between the slats, forming a 
series of shallow depressions 2v, Avhich retain any grain that may 
be shelled out by the action of the sickle or reel, until discharged 
into the wagon-box, a great deal of which grain would roll oft' 
the sides of the cloth if it were tightly stretched over the slats. 
These shallow bags also render the conveyance of the grain up 
the apron, when its inclination is very steep, much more certain 
and regular. 

The reel G, is made and arranged in the usual, or in any suit- 
able manner, and receives its motion from the wheel A' through 
the belt x. 

The slotted fingers y, (figs. 3 & 4,) for dividing the grain, 
supporting it while being cut, and preventing the sickles getting 
damaged from sticks, stones, and other obstructions against which 
the machine may happen to run, are secured to a bar which ex- 
tends across the front end of the machine at suitable distances 
apart. The front ends of these fingers are inclined downward 
in order that when the grain is pressed against them by the sickle 
or knife it may be j)ulled slightly upwards, which favors the cut- 
ting very much and greatly diminishes the force required to 
eft'ect it. 

This machine is mainly designed for harvesting grain by cut- 
ting oft" the heads and leaving the straw upon the ground. The 
heads being elevated by the conveyor, and discharged into the 
box of a wagon. The heads of grain thus gathered are either 
stacked in the open air or garnered in a barn, as may be deemed 
expedient. 

If the grain, when cut is not ripe enough to be garnered, tlie 
sickle may be lowered so as to cut the straw at the usual height 
from the ground, and the conveyor placed in a horizontal posi- 
tion, so as to lay the grain in a swath where it may be allowed 
to remain until cured or it can be bound in sheaves, in the usual 
way. 

To adapt the machine for cutting grass or hay, it is merely 



11 

requisite to lower the sickle as near the ground as possible with- 
out running on to it. 

As the machine is operated in other respects besides those I 
have particularly mentioned in the same w^ay that others are, I 
do not deem it necessary to enter into a detailed description of all 
the minutia of its management. 

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, what 
I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 
in combination with a frame nearly balanced on its supporting 
wheels, and a tongue hinged to said frame, a lever connected to 
one, and projecting towards the driver's stand or seat on the 
other, so that the driver who is tlie sole conductor of the machine, 
may from said stand or seat, raise or depress the cutters at pleas- 
ure during the operation of the machine, for cutting the grain or 
grass at any suitable height above the ground, or for passing 
over any intervening obstacles, substantially as described. 

I also claim in combination with the operative parts of a har- 
vesting machine, a conveyor which first carries the cut grain 
horizontally across the machine and then elevates it so as to dis- 
charge the grain into the bed of a wagon driven alongside of the 
machine, when the conveyor-frame is connected to the bed by a 
flexible joint, in manner and for the purpose described. 

JONATHAN HAINES. 

Witnesses : 

Thomas H. Uppekman, 
A. B. Stoughtox. 

Whereas, upon the Petition of Jonathan Haines, of Pekin, Illi- 
nois, for the Extension of the within Patent granted to him on 
the 27th day of March 1849 and Reissued on the 6th day of 
November^ 1855, the undersigned in accordance with the 18th 
Section of the Act of Congress, approved the 4th day of July, 1836, 
entitled ''an act to promote the progress of the useful arts, and 
to repeal all acts and parts of acts heretofore made for that pur- 
pose" and the act approved the 27tli day of May, 1848, entitled 
" an act to provide additional Examiners in the Patent Office, and 
for other purposes" did, on this 26tli day of March, 1863, decide 
that said patent ought to be extended. 

Now therefore I, David P. Holloway, Commissioner of Patents, 
by virtue of the power vested in me by said Acts of Congress, do 



renew and extend the .said Patent, and certify that tlie same is 
liereby extended for the term of seven years from and after tlie 
ex])iration of the first term viz: from the 2vth day of March, 
1863, which certificate being duly entered of record in the Patent 
Ofiice, the said patent has now the same eifect in law, as though 
the same had been originally granted for the term of twenty-one 
years. 

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the Patent 
Ofiice to be hereunto affixed, this 26th day of March, 1863, 
[l. s.] and of the independence of the United States the eighty- 
seventh. 

D. P. HOLLOWAY, Commissioner. 



13 

DISCLAIMKE. 

Hon. P. P. HoLLAWAY. Commissioner of Patents : 

The petition of Jonathan Haines, late of Union Grove, in the 
State of Illinois, but now of Pekin, in said State, res])ectfnlly 
represents — 

That he is the patentee and proprietor of a patent for an iniprove- 
nient in Harvesting Machines, dated March 27, 1849, in relation 
to which he now wishes to make the follov/ing disclaimer, whicli 
will be found more fully set forth in his communication to the 
Patent Office, filed March 9, 1863, and to which, for greater cer- 
tainty, he now refers, he having paid ten dollars into the Treas- 
ury of the United States agreeably to the requirements of the act 
of Congress in such case made and provided : 

'^ While on this part of my Patent, and to set forever at rest 
the matter of broad construction of my first claim, and which will 
eftectually answer tlie greater part of counsel's argument of the 
5th instant, I will say that notwithstanding all that may have 
))een said or done heretofore in favor of the first claim in my in- 
vention extending to or covering hinged tongues with levers at- 
tached to harvesting or mowing machines when the teams were 
harnessed in front of the machine and drew said machine after 
them, I now disclaim attaching any such meaning hereafter to 
my said first claim ; but do declare that the said first claim in my 
patent now sought to be extended is only valid when applied to 
harvesters or mowers that are driven in advance of the teams 
that propel them." 

JONATHAN HAINES, 
By Mason, Fenwick k Lawrknce, 

ffis Attorneys. 



14 

LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION. 

estate of jonathan haines, deceased. 

State of Illinois, | 
TdzeweJl County, j "' 

The people of the State of Illinois : 

To all to vhom these presents shall come, ijreetinr] : 

Know ye, tliat whereas Jonathan Haines, late of the county 
of Tazewell, and State of Illinois, died intestate, as it is said, on 
or about the 22d day of February, A. D. 1868^ having at the time 
of his decease personal property in this State, which may be lost, 
destroyed, or diminished in value if speedy care be not taken cf 
the same : 

To the end therefore, tliat said property may be collected 
and preserved for those who shall appear to have a legal right or 
interest therein, we do hereby appoint James Haines, of the 
county of Tazewell, and State of Illinois, administrator of all and 
singular the goods and chattels, rights and credits, which were 
of the said Jonathan Haines at the time of his decease, with full 
power and authority to secure and collect the said property and 
debts wheresoever the same may be found in this State, and in 
general to do and perform all other acts which now are, or here- 
after may be required of him by law. 

Witness, W. W. Clemens, clerk of the county court in and for 
. -, the said county of Tazewell^ at his office in Pekin, this 3d 
day of March, A. D. 1868, and probate seal of said court 
hereunto affixed. 

W. W. CLEMExNS, 

Clerk of the Cotmly court. 

State of Illinois, | 
County of Tazewell, j '*• 

I, W. W. Clemens, Clerk of the County Court of said County, do 
liereby certify that the within contains a true and correct copy of 
the original Letters of Administration granted by the said County 
Court to James Haines on the 3d day af March A. D. 1868, ac- 
cording to the records of this office. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my liand and affixed 
the seal of said court, at Pekin, this 12th day of May, A. D. 1869. 

W. W. CLEMENS, 

CotaUij Clerk. 



15 

ADMINISTRATOR'S AFFIDAVIT AS TO THE LOSS OF LETTP]R^ 

PATENT. 



State of Illinois, ] 
Countii of Tazeirell, 



\tij of TazejceU, J 

James Haines, of said county, being duly sworn, doth depose 
and say that he is administrator of the estate of Jonathan Haines, 
deceased, hite of Pekin, in said county ; that the letters patent 
Xo. 6^245, granted to said Jonathan Haines, and bearing date the 
2'7th day of March, A. D. 1849, have been lost or destroyed, as 
lie verily believes ; that he has made diligent search for tlie said 
letters patent in all places where the same would probably be 
found, if existing, and especially among the papers of the decedent, 
and that he has not been able to find said letters patent. 

JAMES HAINES, 

Administrator of Jonathan Uaincs, dcciosed. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me tliis 22d day of December, 
1869, at Pekin, in the said county and State. 
[l. s.] WM. don. MAUS, 

Xotary Puhlic^ city of Pekin, 111 . 



16 

STATEMENT AND ACCOUNT. 



Tv the matter of the application of James Haines, of "^ 
the city of Pekin, county of Tazewell, and State of 
Illinois:, administrator of the estate «)f Jonathan 
Haines, deceased, late of .«ame place, for the ex- 
ten.^ion of Letters Patent No. 6,245, granted to 
said Jonathan Haines. March 27, 1849; reissued 
November 0, 1855, and extended March 27, 1863, 
"for seven years, to expire March 27. 1870, for ini- 
provemont of Harvesting ^laehines. j 



Hpfoir the Senate and 
ILnim of Reprti^ent- 
afives of fhe United 
States of America 
in Conqresis asarni- 
hfrd. 



To th)' Senate and ILmse of Rtpresentatices of the United States: 

Tlie statement of the said James Haines, as above, administra- 
tor, re,spectfiilly shows — 

That the said Jonathan Haines, at'ter ^civinj;' much attention to 
liarvesting grain by the ordinary means of cradling and reaping 
by hand, and with such imperfect reapers as were then in use, did, 
in the year 1849, invent, and received letters jiatent for, a labor- 
saving machine known as ''Haines' Illinois Harvester," which 
letters patent were issued November i). 1855, and extended by the 
Commissioner of Patents, March 27, 18G3, for seven years from 
the date last mentioned. That the applicant, administrator of 
the said Jonathan Haines, deceased, inventor of said harvester, 
desires, and hereby applies to the Congress of the United States 
i'or, a further extension of said patent, for the term of 
years, for the reason that said inventor in his lifetime, and his 
estate since his death, neither nor both^ have received any ade- 
quate compensation from the said letters patent nor their exten- 
sion, for the time, labor, skill, and money bestowed upon said in- 
vention, and in efforts to introduce it into public use. In support 
of this application, and for proof in part of the statement last 
above made, applicant hereby introduces and makes part of this 
application the statement of the said Jonathan Haines, patentee, 
made to the Commissioner uf Patents and dated November 29, 
A. D. 1802. This Petition and Statement shows that the said 
Jonathan Haines had at that date (November 29, 1862) only about 
§8,500 worth of property, with one-half interest in some twenty 
thousand dollars of claims outstanding in favor of A. and J. 
Haines, of which firm he was a p)artner, and that said firm owed 
about seventeen thousand dollars (.$17,000.) Tliis applicant 



17 

knows, and hereby states, that these claims of $20,000 proved 
almost worthless, and there was hardly enough realized out of 
them to pa}^ the interest on the indebtedness of said A. and J. 
Haines. And that the whole of the debts of A. and J. Haines 
had to be paid out of royalty or patent fees received for Headers 
made after the date of Extension of said Patent, viz : March 27th, 
1863. And so it happened that instead of having some $8,500 of 
property over his debts, in November, 1862, as shown by his 
statement, the said Jonathan Haines was by reason of failure and 
inability of those owing him to pay what they owed, largely 
insolvent at that time and for some three years afterwards. 

In proof of this last statement, I attach hereto, and make part 
of this application, a deed, marked ^^A," of assignment from said 
Jonathan Haines, with Ansel Haines, (holding an interest in said 
patent, and being together the firm of A. and J. Haines,) to 
James Haines, of Pekin, Hlinois, in trust, to enable him, out of 
patent fees thereafter arising from said patent on harvesters, to 
pay some four or five notes of said Jonathan Haines and A. and 
J. Haines, amounting to only about $1,400, and which the said 
Jonathan and Ansel Haines were unable to pay, except in this way; 
thus showing that said Jonathan Haines and A. and J. Haines 
were indigent, if not insolvent, up to the date of this deed, March 
13, 1867. These debts, as well as all others of his, except only 
such as were contracted for food and clothing for himself and 
family, were the result of eftbrts made by said Jonathan Haines 
and the said A. and J. Haines to manufacture and introduce into 
public use the said '' Hlinois Harvester," the patent on which is 
sought to be extended by this application. The debts, to pay 
which this assignment was made in 1866, were not fully paid till 
late in the year 1867. And, on February 22^ 1868, the said Jon- 
athan Haines died, and your petitioner administered on his estate, 
and has had full and complete charge and knowledge of all its 
assets, thence till now ; and has also, as agent of A. and J. 
Haines, collected all the patent fees or royalty arising from the 
sale and manufacture of said harvester. I should have stated 
sooner that the said Jonathan Haines and A. and J. Haines 
abandoned all attempts to manufacture said harvester after the 
fall of 1862, from entire inability to procure the necessary means 
to carry on their shops. For some years prior to 1862, G. H. 
Rugg, of Ottawa, Hlinois, and various other parties unknown to 



18 

Tonr petitioner now, manufactured harvesters, which violated or 
infringed the said patent of Jonathan Haines, and he sought to 
prosecute and stop said infringers by suits at law, which^ost him 
large sums of money, and from the result of which suits he never 
realized near enough to pay costs of same. These infringers were 
a great impediment to his success in introducing his harvester to 
the public, as they made inferior machines, and their failure to 
give satisfaction prevented the sale of good machines made by the 
patentee and those having his authority to manufacture under his 
patent. But in February, 1864, a compromise was made with 
most of these infringers, and Messrs. Walter Ji. Wood & Co., of 
Hoosick Falls ; N. Y. Barber and Hawley, of Decatur ; J. C. and 
C. N. Mayberry, and Ansel Haines, of Illinois, became the only 
licensees authorized to make and sell said harvesters. All suits 
were then withdrawn or settled, consuming a large amount of 
all tlie profits or patent fees received by said patentee up to and 
beyond this latter date ; so that the greater amount received from 
sales and patent fees, or royalty on this harvester, has-been con- 
sumed in efforts to introduce it to public use, against a deep-seated 
prejudice on account of its novelty, and against a large number 
of manufacturers with ample means, who were interested in the 
success of other and very different Harvesters, and also against 
infringers and the evil effects of badly-made machines they sold 
as '^^Haines' Hlinois Harvester." I have made a thorough ex- 
amination of all papers and books of Jonathan Haines and A. and 
J. Haines since March 27th, 1863, date of extension of this patent 
referred to above, and find there have been 3,368 Illinois Har- 
vesters made and sold, on which Jonathan Haines and A. and J. 
Haines have received patent fees or royalty to the amount in all 
to this date of $46,609. I attach hereto a schedule, marked ^'B,' ' 
showing numbers made and sold and amounts of patent fees re- 
ceived by patentee and A. and J. Haines for each of the years 
1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869, of said extended 
term of this patent. This is all the compensation of every kind 
that patentee or any person or persons for him, had received on 
account of this patent since November 29th, 1862, as both he and 
A. and J. Haines were unable to obtain money sufficient to manu- 
facture the Harvester or run their shops for any purpose since 
that date. Jonathan Haines gave his whole time and attention 
to the manufacture and improvement of the " Illinois Harvester " 



19 

and labored constantly to introduce it into public notice and use 
by his own exertions and influence, and employed and interested 
all others he could control, to assist him in its introduction to 
and use by the public. He made a trip to California and Oregon 
by the Ocean route in 1863, remaining on the Pacific coast for 
nearly two years, to make known and introduce it there. And 
was very successful as nearly one-half the sales made since 1864, 
have been for use in California and Oregon. In 1866, he made 
an extended tour through Texas, Arkansas and southwest Mis- 
souri for the same purpose, and to collect some claims in those 
States for ''Harvesters " sold and shipped there just previous to 
their attempted secession from the United States. A large pro- 
portion of his loss occurred from sales made in Kentucky, Texas, 
Arkansas and Missouri about the beginning of the war, where by 
his efforts he had successfully introduced the ' ' Header. ' ' Secession , 
and the war which followed, occasioned almost entire loss of all 
claims for sale made prior to that time^ and prevented additional 
sales and introduction of ''Headers" after its disastrous effects 
on those southern states. But with all his ability, energy and 
skill he devoted himself at all times to efforts for extending the 
use and making known the utility of his invention. So unspar- 
ing was he of his comfort and health in seeking to further the 
success of this labor-saving machine_, which he knew would lighten 
the toil of millions of farmers and save untold millions of bushels 
of grain from waste and destruction, that his death resulted from 
his efforts to introduce it successfully where its benefits were un- 
known. While in a harvest field in Missouri in 1857, engaged 
in practically operating one of his "Headers" to show some 
farmers its great capacity to harvest wheat, he was overcome with 
the heat and prostrated for many days by what is there designated 
"Sunstroke." Though he recovered from this severe attack so 
far as to devote himself as usual to making known the claims of 
his Harvesters in after years, yet its eftects preyed upon his health. 
After his death, which was from apolexy, a 2^ost mortem examina- 
tion by skilful physicians revealed the fact that the sunstroke in 
1857 had aftected his brain, and the injury then received gradu- 
ally encroaching upon that organ, had produced his death. Thus 
devoting every energy of his life for more than twenty years to 
invent and place before the public a useful labor-saving "Har- 
vester" which already lessens the toil and increases the produc- 



20 

tion and profit of thousands of farmers, He himself died without 
reaping any pecuniary reward for the great service he rendered 
others. His family were left at his death dependent solely on the 
royalty arising from sales of the Harvesters for their maintain- 
ance. And this application for extension of the patent on his 
invention is made for their benefit, that they may receive a par- 
tial renumeration for the great service the patentee rendered the 
})ublic, but died before that public had made him any reasonable 
compensation. As further proof beyond this applicants assertion, 
that Jonathan Haines never received reasonable compensation 
during his life for his invention, and that his estate is still inad- 
quate for the support of his widow and family, I have procured 
and make part of this application sucli certificates marked '^ C " 
of well known citizens of tlie State of Illinois, as a limited time 
to obtain would allow. These statements of persons well informed 
on the subjects of which they testify, conclusively show that the 
])atentee labored faithfully all his life from some time before the 
date of his patent till his death to perfect and introduce his 
'' Harvester" to public use. And that during all that time 
lie was poor, and often involved far beyond his means to pay, 
and that some of his debts, from inability, were unpaid at his 
death. x\nd that his family and widow now have no means 
beyond and aside from the patent fees on sales of the ''Rlinois 
Harvester," and that if this source of support is cut short on 
termination of the patent as now extended, they will have to 
rely on their own industry for daily bread. These certificates 
of practical farmers, machinists, and dealers in Harvesting 
Machines amply show that the ''Hlinois Harvester" is one of 
the best and probable the most useful labor-saving machine 
known to Ao-riculture. That it is yet verv little known to the 
l)ublic and introduced only in a very limited proportion of our 
vast grain-growing territory. That it will require large Capi- 
tal, skilful interested energy, and many years of successful 
eftbrts to give it that notoriety and position which it so well 
merits, and which alone can render it remunerative to the heirs 
of the patentee or to the manufacturei-. This applicant believes, 
and these statements authorize such belief, tliat unless the patent 
nn this Header is extended for a considerable number of years, 
giving to the heirs of the patentee and to manufacturers already 
skilled and experienced in its construction, introduction and sale, 



21 

protection from unskilful, inexperienced, irresponsible coni[)eti- 
tion, the machines will be so poorly constructed, for the sake of 
cheapness and undeserved profits, as to fail in successful harvest- 
ing, and disappoint and defraud farmers purchasing tliem, and 
thus be driven from the market, the public robbed of their benefit, 
and enterprising labor deprived of this great alleviator of toil. 

The statement attached hereto of numbers made each year, 
during the seven years just closing, shows a steady increase each 
year, though the number made last year is very small, when it is 
compared with the innumerable wheat fields which swell the 
product of our agricultural continent. If the patent be extended 
by your honorable body for a liberal term of years, it is reasonable 
to expect the same energy which has combatted and overcome so 
many obstacles to its introduction, where entirely unknown and 
untried, will be still more successfully exerted in spreading its 
usefulness where it is now partially known. The royalty arising 
from extended sales will enable the heirs of the patentee to 
employ more manufacturers, while those who have thus far con- 
structed machines that have given satisfaction and increased the 
reputation of the Header wherever used, will be enabled to 
increase the numbers they make, by the profits of a business 
thus secured to them for some years to come. So that, 
when the term, for which you may now extend it, has 
run out, the invention will be well placed before the public, 
])y the energy of a patentee whose heirs will have at last received 
a reasonable compensation for the time, effort, skill and means 
employed in perfecting the invention, and by machines made by 
skilful, well-paid manufacturers, which do their work well and 
give satisfaction and profit to the purchasers, widely scattered 
over our grain-growing districts, making the ^^ Header" so famil- 
iar that after expiration of the patent it can be constructed by 
ordinary mechanics and made as common in the wheat fields of 
all our land, as wagons and plows now are. 

By reference to schedule ''B " it will he seen that the whole 
amount received by Jonathan Haines, A. and J. Haines, and 
the estate of Jonathan Haines from the patent, hereby sought 
to be extended, since November 29th, 1862, date of former appli- 
cation for extension, is |46,609. After payment of debts of A. 
and J. Haines out of this sum there was left $20,909. Only one- 



22 

half belouged to the estate of Jonathan Haines §10,454 50 

Deduct from this the private debts of Jonathan Haines, 
funeral exjjenses and such other administration 
Costs as I have so far paid off 2,692 75 

It leaves, belonging to his estate as my books now show. |7,*761 75 
This amount of money, to be still more reduced by payment of 
Government '^ Succession Tax/' Probate and Administration fees, 
with one-half interest in Machine Shops of A. and J. Haines at 
Pekin^ Hlinois, and a grain, or warehouse, at Albany, Illinois, 
from which no rent has been received for two years and considered 
quite worthless, is absolutely all the estate of Jonathan Haines is 
now worth. His widow is quite aged, in feeble health and has 
no means of support, except the small amount allowed by the 
laws of Hlinois and of her husband's estate in specific property or 
money in lieu thereof. Four daughters and one son, his heirs, 
are dependent almost entirely on their interest in the patent, now 
asked to be extended, for their support. 

I have made this petition much longer than I wished but I 
feared the claims this patent has upon your honorable body, for a 
liberal extension, could not be understood with less explanation. 
And all I have said, is not one-hundreth part that might be 
truthfully urged in favor of the Header, as a labor-saving ma- 
chine, capable of benefiting the public if Congress will extend to 
the heirs of the patentee the patent on it for such time as will 
enable them to introduce it into public use. 

JAMES HAINES, 

Adminiairator. 

Number of Harvesters made, and amount of Patent fee received 
in the Years 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869 by 
Jonathan Haines and A. and J. Haines, viz : 

100 for the year 1863, patent fee received |1,500 

135 '' '' '' 1864, '' '' '' 2,025 

355 '' " " 1865, " '' " 5,225 

275 '' '' " 1866, " '' " 4,412 

594 '' " '' 1867, '' " " 9,285 

769 '' '' '' 1868, " '' '' 12.462 

1140 '^ '' '' 1869, '' '' '' li;700 

3368 $46,609 



23 

AFFIDAVITS AS TO UTILITY. 

State of Illinois, ) 
Count}/ of TazPAiJell, j ' 

Warren Kilpatrick, of said county, being first duly sworn, on 
oath states that he has been acquainted with and used the ^^ Haines 
Illinois Harvester" for the last ten years, cutting on an aver- 
age about 350 acres of wheat, or other small grain, each year : 
during the harvest of 1867 he cut over 600 acres with one of these 
harvesters. In all cases the grain saved as well, and in some in- 
stances better, than that cut by a reaper or other harvesting ma- 
chines ; I have used and seen used some of the reaping machines 
known, and know from my own experience and the statements of 
good, reliable farmers that it costs less than one-half to cut grain 
with this harvester that it does wdth a common reaper ; grain can 
be cut and stacked with ^'Haines' Illinois Harvester'' at 
at less cost than to stack grain from the shock after having been 
cut and bound. In wet seasons, the grain cut with a header, if 
properly stacked w^hen cut, saves better than that bound and 
shocked, being free from danger of heating and sprouting while 
in stack. Affiant states that by using the header he saved more 
than one-half the cost of cutting and saving his grain over and 
above the cost of reaping. 

xYffiant states that it costs at least |3.00 per acre to cut and 
save grain with a common reaper, so that on the average of 350 
acres that he cut with a Haines' header he saved, at a low esti- 
mate, §525 each year. Affiant is informed and believes that there 
were 1200 of these Harvesters made, sold and used the last year, 
wdiich cut, say 300 acres of wheat, or other small grain, each, 
which, at a saving of $1.50 per acre, saved to the owner and the 
public $450 ; from same information, affiant states that 6^000 of 
these machines now in use in the United States save annually to 
the owners, and is a benefit to the public, $2,700,000. 

Affiant further states that this machine is more durable, less 
expensive to keep in operation and repair ; less liable to get out 
of order and make delay and damage in the harvest field ; does its 
work better and more rapidly than any other harvesting or grain 
saving machine before, and used by the public. Grain can be cut 
witht his machine wnth much lighter work to men and teams em- 
ployed to work it than by any other reaper or harvester. 

Affiant states that he knew Jonathan HaineS; the patentee of 



24 

the "Haines Illinois Harvester," for fifteen years before his death, 
in 1868 ; he knew that he was diligent in his endeavors to intro- 
duce his machine to the public^ but on account of prejudice on the 
part of the farmers in general was only partially succes^ul, and 
that he never received adequate remuneration for the time, skill 
and expense incurred in inventing, patenting and introducing the 
header to the public. 

Affiant believes that the merits of this harvester have never 
until of late been known and recognized by the farmers in gen- 
eral ; that the machine is becoming more popular, and more will 
be sold in years to come than there has been in the past. 

Affiant further states that he believes the estimates of benefit to 
the public from the use of " Haines' Hlinois Harvester'' is below, 
I'ather than above its true value, and that the above calculations 
and statements are true, to the best of his knowledge and belief. 

WARREN KILPATRICK. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 29th day of January, 
A. D. 1870. 

[n. s.l FRANK E. PURPLE, A. F. 



State of Illinois, | 
County of Tazewell, j " ' 

Gideon H. Rupert, of Pekin, in said county, being duly sworn, 
on oath states that he has been w^ell acquainted with the manu- 
facture, sale, use, and operations of the "Haines Illinois Har- 
vester/' for past twenty years. 

From personal experience in using this harvester to cut his own 
grain, and from statements of other farmers who have tested its 
benefits and capacity to harvest and save grain, affiant states 
that " Haines' Illinois Harvester " is the best and most reliable 
machine to harvest and save grain now in use. 

It cuts and secures the grain better, with more saving of labor 
and less waste of grain, and with lighter work to men and teams 
employed to run the machine, than any other reaper or other 
harvesting machine now in use. Each one of these harvesters 
will cut 300 or more acres of wheat or other small grain each year 
when well worked, and at one dollar and a half ($1.50) less cost 
than with any other machine on each acre, making a saving or 
benefit to its owner and the 23ublic of $450 on each machine in use 
each year. 



25 

Affiant i.s informed and believes there were twelve liiindred ot 
tliese ''harvesters" made, sold, and used last year, benefiting 
the public, by their greater cheapness in harvesting, $540,000 for 
last year over and above any other means of harvesting known. 

He is also informed and believes that there are about G,000 of 
these machines now in nse in the United States, benefiting the public 
each year $2,700,000. The public demand for them is increasing, 
and affiant states that more will be sold this year than last, so 
that the great benefit of $2,700,000 each year, as stated above, 
will be increased each year as the sales become greater, so that 
each year's sales will add more than half a million dollars benefit 
to the public from the use of these Harvesters. So that during 
an extended term of seven years of this patent, the public w^ould 
be benefited more than $30,000,000 from the use of this harvester. 

Affiant states that from lono; experience in cutting his own and 
neighbors' grain with this and other, harvesting machines, and 
from being present in the capacity of agent, in starting and oper- 
ating this and other machines, he knows that the '^ Haines 
Hlinois Harvester ' ' is the best and only real labor and grain- 
saving harvester now known to the public, and that the above 
calculations and statements are true. And further sayetli not. 

0. H. RUPERT. 



State or Illinois. \ 
County of Tazewell, j 

C. B. Cook, of Pekin, in said county, being first duly sworn, on 
his oath states as follows : 

Some time in the year 1858 I engaged as agent to sell and 
introduce among the farmers '^ Haines' Illinois Harvester," and 
from that time till now have been well acquainted with its manu- 
facture, sale, use, and benefit. I know it was a very difficult 
machine to sell and introduce into use among farmers, because it 
Is so different from all other reapers or harvesters, and was when 
I was sellinci: it far in advance of the known wants of the farmers. 
They were prejudiced against it by makers and sellers of other 
reapers and harvesters, and found grain cut with this harvester 
would spoil in the stack, as they had been told it would. Jona- 
than Haines spent all his time, I know, from 1858 to 1868, when 
he died, to make, sell, and introduce his harvester into public use, 
and spent all his money and all he made in this effort ; and I 



26 

kuow he died poorj never having made anything abuve his outlay 
by sales of his harvesters. I know his widow is now old and in 
feeble health, and has no means to support herself, except the pat- 
ent fees arising from the sales of this harvester coming to Ker from 
her husband's estate. Her five children, tlie children of Jonathan 
Haines, deceased, patentee of this harvester, have no other means 
of support than from this patent. I know that this header is now 
getting to be well liked by farmers, and its sale is increasing each 
year. There were about twelve hundred of these sold to farmers 
the past year, and there are about six thousand in all in use in 
the United States. I have sold a great many myself, and helped 
farmers try them and cut grain with them. I know that grain 
can be cut one dollar and fifty cents per acre cheaper with the 
Illinois Harvester than with any other harvester now in use. 
Three hundred acres each harvest is an average amount for each 
header to cut. This, at one dollar and fifty cents per acre saving, 
makes §450 each harvester benefits its owner and the public each 
harvest over other machines. The twelve ^hundred sold and used 
last year benefits to the public $540,000. The whole six thousand 
in use benefited the public last year $2,700,000. This is a low 
calculation of the benefits the Illinois Harvester now is to the 
public. Its use is increasing, and its benefits in next and future 
years will be still greater than above calculations now show. 

Afiiant states the above is a true calculation and statement of 
benefit arising to the public from the use of ^'Haines' Illinois 

Harvester.'" 

qYRTJS B. COOK. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 21st day of January, 
A. D. 1870. 

A. B. SAWYER, .Xotan/ Fnbllc. 



State of Illinois, } 
County of TazfAceU, ^ ' ' 

I, Thomas Edes, of Logan county, in said State^ being first 
duly sworn, on his oath states that he has been well acquainted 
with the manufacture, sale and use of ^-Haines' Illinois Har- 
vester" for the past fifteen years; that he knows, from having 
used this harvester each harvest for said number of years, that it 
is far superior to any other reaper or harvester now in use. Ap- 
pliant states he has and can cut from three to four hundred acres 



27 



ot* grain each harvest with one of these harvesters ; that he has 
and can harvest with them at one-half the cost of cutting grain 
with other harvesting machines ; that there is a clear saving of 
one dollar and fifty cents on each acre cut with these harvesters 
over the expenses of harvesting with any other machine now in 
use, and, then, each of these harvesters, when w^ell worked, will 
save to its owner four hundred and fifty dollars each year, and he 
then much benefit to the parties in saving labor ; that, as he is 
informed and believes, there was twelve hundred Illinois Har- 
vesters made, sold and used ; that last year each one of these 
saving to the public, and benefiting the owner and the public, 
$450 — making a total benefit, on twelve hundred used, of $540,000 
in the past year. Appliant also states that he is informed, and 
believes, there are six thousand of these Illinois Harvesters now 
in use, which would make a benefit of $2,700,000 to the public 
each year from their use. He also states, from personal know- 
ledge, that the harvester is growing in public favor, and that 
more will be sold the present year and next year than ever before, 
xlppliant also states that he knew Jonathan Haines w^ell, and 
knows that he devoted all his time and means to make, sell and 
introduce his harvester into public use, and that he died poor, 
leaving his wddow and family dependent on the patent fees arising 
from the patent on the ^^ Illinois Harvesters." 

Appliant states that his knowledge of the ''Illinois Harvest- 
ers," and its benefit to the farmers and the public, is based 
mainly on his own experience, having seen harvesters used, two 
of them in harvesting his own grain, and he states the calcula- 
tions of the benefit to the public, made above, are true to the best 
of his knowledge and belief. 

Appliant's experience is based on his own experience of cutting 
his own grain with these harvesters, having raised from 300 to 
600 acres of w^ieat each and every year for the past ten years, and 
cut the same with the Illinois Harvester. 

THOMAS EDES. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me, this the 24th day of Janu- 
ary, A, D. 1870. 

A. B. SAWYER, Notary Public . 



28 

State of Illinois, \ 
County of Tazewell, j ^■'* 

John O'Brieiij of CTrovelaiul Town, in said county, being lir.st 
duly sworn, on his oath states that he has been well acqifainted 
with the manufacturers and use of Haines' Illinois Harvesters for 
ten years past. That from his own experience in harvesting his 
own grain, and from statements made to him b}^ G. H. Rupert, 
and many other large farmers he knows, and here states that 
each harvester, well made, will cut at least three hundred acres 
of grain, each harvester at a cost of one dollar and fifty cents per 
acre less than it can be harvested by any other reaper or harvester 
know^n to appliant. That each harvester used saves to its owner 
and to the public four hundred and fifty dollars each harvest used. 
Appliant is informed by manufacturers and believes that there 
were twelve hundred Hlinois Harvesters made, sokl, and used the 
last year. This number used benefited the public at least |540,000. 
He is also informed and believes that there are in use now in the 
United States six thousand of these harvesters. That number 
made benefit the public and their owners in the aggregate, |2^700,- 
000 each year. Appliant knows of his own knowledge that these 
machines are growing in public favor, and are more wanted now 
than in past years ; and that more will be sold this year and next 
year than in any two years before. 

Appliant knew Jonathan Haines for twenty years before his 
death in 1868, and knows that he devoted all his time and means 
to making, selling, and introducing his harvesters into public 
use, and knows he died a poor man. 

Appliant states that the above calculations of the benefit of 
this harvester to the public are made from personal knowledge 
and reliable information, and are below rather than above the 
true value to the public. And that these harvesters are of great 
benefit to the public, because the labor to harvest with them is 
much easier for man and horse than it is in harvesting with any 
other harvester. 

JOHN O'BRIEN. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this, the 24th day of Jan- 
uary, A, D. 1870. 

WM. DON. MAUS, 

Notary Pullic, Fekin, III. 



29 

State of Illinois, ] 
Tazeicell County, ) 

John Study vin, of said county, being duly sworn on his oath, 
states that he has been acquainted with the manutacturCj sale, 
and use of the Haines Illinois Harvester since its introduction to 
the public, in 1850. He knows it is the most reliable machine 
for harvesting grain known to the public ; that it cuts and saves 
grain at less cost and less waste, in better order, lighter labor to 
men and teams employed with it, than any other reaping or 
harvesting machine in use by the public. Having used one of 
these machines for cutting my own and neighbors' grain for the 
last 20 years, I speak from great practical experience of my own 
and that of many intelligent, practical farmers ; from such infor- 
mation I know, and therefore state that this harvester will save 
one dollar and ^iij cents (|1.50) per acre on each acre of grain 
cut with it, as compared with other harvesting and reaping ma- 
chines now in use by the public. This machine is more durable, 
less expensive to keep in operation and repair^ less liable to get 
out of order, make delay and damage in the harvest field, does 
its work better, more rapidly than any other harvesting or grain- 
saving machine before, and used by the public. Each one of 
these harvesters, well-worked, Avill cut and save three hundred or 
more acres of wheat or other small grain each harvest, saving to 
the public, on each acre so cut, one dollar and a half, (|1.50,) 
making a saving to its owner and to the public of |450 on each 
year on each harvester in use. 

Affiant is informed, and believes, that 1^200 of these machines 
were made, sold, and used the last year, benefiting the public, by 
above calculation, to the amount of $540,000. On same informa- 
tion, believes that there are 6,000 of these Haines Harvesters now 
in use in the United States ; this number would benefit the pub- 
lic, by their saving in expense, each year, §2,700,000. Afiiant 
further states that he kncAv Jonathan Haines, the patentee of the 
'^Haines Illinois Harvester,'' from 1845 till his death, in 1868, 
and know that he has been diligent in his endeavors to introduce 
his harvester into general use, but, on account of prejudice on the 
part of the farmers in general, was only partially successful ; and 
that he has never received adequate remuneration for the time, 
.skill, and expense incurred in inventing^ patenting, and intro- 
ducing the headers to the public ; and that he died poor, leaving 



30 

his widow and children dependent on the income derived from 

this patent for support. Affiant further states that this harvester 

is becoming more popular, and in more demand, each year ; and 

that there will be more sold each year from this time, over those 

in the past year or years, so that there will be more in use each 

year hereafter than now ; and if the patent on this invention be 

extended by Congress for seven years from its expiration, the 

benefit to the public each year will be increased, and for the next 

seven years the aggregate benefit to the public will be ^30,000,000 

or more. Affiant believes that the calculations of benefits to the 

public derived from the use of Haines' Illinois Harvester is too 

low, rather than too high. 

JOHN STUDY V IN 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 28th day of January, 

A. D. 1870. 

^N s.l FRANK E. PURPLE, N. P 



State oe Illinoic;, ) 
County of Tazewell, j '' 

Henry Sage, of said county and State, being first duly sworn, 
on his oath states that he has been well acquainted with the man- 
ufacture and sale of '^Haines' Hlinois Harvester" for the past 
twenty years, and from practical experience while engaged in 
farming myself, and from statements and practical tests of many 
farmers in this State known to me, I know, and therefore state, 
that grain can be harvested and saved by the header at one-half 
the cost of harvesting with reapers and other harvesters now used. 
From like experience of myself and others I know, and therefore 
state, that each header, well worked, will cut an average of three 
hundred acres each harvest, and will save one dollar and a half 
per acre over any other reaper or harvester in use, thus saving to 
the owner of each header ^450 each harvest^ and benefiting the 
public to that amount on each one used. About 1,200 harvesters 
were made, sold, and used the last year, benefiting the public 
$540,000. There are now over 6,000 headers in use, benefiting 
the public $2,700,000 each year. Affiant further states that he 
knows that this machine is gaining in favor with the public, and 
that he believes more will be made and sold next year and following 
years than the past year, and the benefit to the public will increase 
each year as greater numbers of the headers are sold. Affiant 



31 

further states that he was well acquainted with Jonathan Haines, 
the patentee of the '' Illinois Harvester," from the time he in- 
vented and patented the same until his death in 1868. That 
said Jonathan Haines devoted his whole time and all his means 
to making, selling and introducing his harvester into public use. 
And that he died poor, never having realized an}^ profit from his 
invention in his lifetime : he left his widow and children poor, 
and that they are now dependent on patent fees arising from this 
patent for their support. 

Affiant further states that this invention is a very valuable one 
to the public, and the calculations above of its benefits to owners 
of harvesters and to the public are true. And further says not. 

HENRY SAGE. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 22d day of January, 
A. D. 18V0. 

fL. s] , A. B. SAWYER, 

[Stamp.] Notary Fuhlir 



State of Illinois, I 
f\)unti/ of Tazewell, j 

Benjamin 8. Prettyman, of said county, being first duly sworn^ 
on his oath states that he has been acquainted with the '-'Haines 
Illinois Harvester " for the past fifteen years ; that he has used 
them in cutting his own grain for many years past, and from 
actual experience with them knows that grain can be cut with 
these harvesters at half the cost of harvesting with other grain 
harvesting machines now in use, saving in cost to farmers of one 
dollar and fifty cents on each acre harvested with this machine 
over any other known to afiiant. That harvester well made will 
harvest and save three hundred acres of wheat or other grain each 
harvest it is used ; he knows from experience in their use that 
they are more durable than other reapers or harvesters now in 
use. He states that this harvester does its work better, saves the 
grain with less waste, is less fatiguing to man and horse em- 
ployed on it, and costs one dollar and fifty cents less per acre to 
harvest and save grain with it than with any other reaper or 
harvester. 

That he has been informed and believes that twelve hundred 
of these harvesters were made, sold, and used during the past 
year. This number used would save to the owners and to the 



32 

public, .$540,000 ; he is also informed that there are now six thou- 
sand of these liarvesters in use in the United States. This number 
now benefits the public $2,700,000 each year. Affiant states from 
liis own experience, that this harvester is growing in public favor 
and is better liked by the public than ever before ; and that more 
of them will be made and sold this year than ever before. Affiant 
states further that he knew Jonathan Haines well, and was 
familiar with his financial condition from 1850 till 1868, time of 
liis death, and that he was always poor and unable to pay his 
debts ; lie continued to make, sell, and introduce his harvester to 
public use ; that he died poor, and left a widow old and in feeble 
liealth, and five children, all dependent on patent fees arising 
from this patent for support. Affiant knows the truth of the ben- 
efit of this harvester to the public from his own personal experi- 
ence and observation, and from information from many practical 
and reliable farmers, and from such knowledge, states that the 
above calculation of its benefit to the owners of harvesters and to 
the public is below rather than above their true value and benefits 

to the public. 

Vy. S. PKETTYMAN. 

Subscribed and sworn to l-^efore me, January 21, 1870. 

WM. DON. MAUS, 

Xofory Public. 



State of Illinois^ ] 
County of Tazewell, j 

William S. Maus, of said county, being duly sworn, on oath 
states that he has been well acquainted with the manufacture, 
sale, use and operation of '^Plaines' Illinois Harvester " for past 
twenty years. From personal experience in using this harvester 
in cutting our own grain, and from statements of other farmers 
who have tested its benefits and capacity to harvest and save 
grain, affiant states that ^^ Haines' Illinois Harvester" is the 
best and most reliable machine to harvest and save grain now in 
use. It cuts and saves the grain better, Avith less waste of grain 
and more saving of labor, and with lighter work to men and 
teams employed to run tlie machine, than any reaper or other 
liarvesting machine now in use. Each one of these harvesters 
will cut three hundred acres or more each harvest, when well 
worked, and at one dollar and fifty cents less cost than with any 



33 

other machine on each acre — making a saving or benefit to the 
owner and to the public of |450 on each machine in use each year 
it is used. Affiant is informed, and believes, there were twelve 
hundred of these harvesters made, sold and used last year^ bene- 
fiting the public, by their greater cheapness of harvesting, 
$540,000 for last year, over any other means of harvesting. He 
is also informed^ and believes, there are about 6,000 of them now 
in use in the United States^, benefiting the public each year, 
$2,700,000. The public demand for them is increasing, and affi- 
ant states that more will be sold this year than last, so that the 
great benefit of $2,700^000 each year to the public, as stated 
above, will increase each year with the increased sale of these 
harvesters, so that each year's sales will add more than half a 
million dollars benefit to the public from the use of these harvest- 
ers — so that, during an extended term of seven years of this 
patent, the public would be benefited about $30,000,000 from the 
use of ''Haines' Illinois Harvester." Affiant makes above cal- 
culations of benefit to the public from actual experience and state- 
ments of farmers who have used and tested the harvester, and 
believes the statements below rather than above the actual bene- 
fits the public will derive from this harvester if its manufacture 
is continued and machines furnished as the public demands. 
Affiant further states, that from his own use of the "Illinois Har- 
vester " in cutting his own grain for some five or six years, while 
engaged in farming, and from cutting the grain of all his neigh- 
bors during that time, that the above calculations of benefits to 
the public from its use is below, rather than above, its true value 
as an invention and a labor-saving machine. 

Affiant also states that he was well acquainted with Jonathan 
Haines, the patentee of this harvester, and knows that he devoted 
all his time and means to the making, selling and introducing 
his harvester to the public ; and that he died a poor man, leaving 
his widow and children all dependent for support on patent fees 
arising from the patent on this harvester, and that if the patent 
is not extended by Congress, they will have no means of support, 
except their labor. 

W. S MAIL^. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 24th day of January, 
A. D. 1870. 
[l. s.] WM. don. iMAUS, Ndfan/ ruhUc. 



34 

State of Illinois, 1 
County of Tazewell, ) ' 

We, the undersigned, farmers living in said county, being duly 
sworn on our separate oaths, state that we have known the 
''Haines Illinois Harvester" for ten years past, and being 
familiar with its work in harvesting and saving grain. From 
our own knowledge, derived from long use of this harvester^ we 
state that o-rain can be cut and saved with it at half the cost of 
reapers and other harvesters known to us. We have used some 
of the best reapers in use, and know, from using them and the 
harvester, that grain is saved much better with this header than 
with any other harvester, and the labor of heading with it is much 
easier than reaping or any otlier way of harvesting known to us. 
The ' ' Illinois Harvester ' ' will cut and save grain one dollar 
and fifty cents ($1.50) cheaper per acre than any other harvesting 
machine we know ; and each header, well w^orked, will cut three 
hundred acres or more each harvest, saving to the owner and the 
public four hundred and fifty (|450) dollars on each harvester 
each harvest used, making a saving of $540,000 on the twelve 
hundred '' Illinois Harvesters " made and sold and used during 
the last year. Affiants are informed, and believe, about six 
thousand of these harvesters are now in use, saving to tlie public 
and their owners each year |2, 700,000 annually. These harvesters 
are becoming better known, and more wanted by the public, and 
more will be sold each year hereafter than in the year just past. 
These calculations of the benefits of the Illinois Harvester are 
made from our own experience in their use, and is below rather 
than above their true value to the public. 

I>ETEK MURRY, 
JAMES FARROW. 
J. C. DUNCAN, 
JOHN PHILLIPS. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me, this day of January, 

A. D. 1870. 



State of Illinois. ] 
Count}/ of Tazevjell, | '"^" 

I, E. W. Rosseter, of Pekin, Tazewell county, being first 
duly sworn, on my oath state that I have been well acquainted 
with ''^ Haines' Illinois Harvester,'' both in its manufacture at the 



35 

shops in Pekin, and its sale and use by farmers, for five years past ; 
I know that nearly twelve hundred of these harvesters were made 
and sold the year just past, and about six thousand of them are 
now in use in the United States ; I know from my own experience 
in seeing them harvest grain_, and from the practical test and use 
of them by many farmers who have proved the truth of my state- 
ment, that grain can be and is harvested with these headers at 
one-half, or less than half, the cost of harvesting it with reapers 
or any other harvester now in use. The cost of harvesting with 
other machines is three dollars or over per acre, with this 
header, not more than one dollar and fifty cents per acre ; making 
a saving or benefit to the public of one dollar and fifty cents on 
each acre cut with a header. Each header well worked cuts on 
an average three hundred acres each harvest ; one dollar and fifty 
cents benefit, or saving on each acre so cut makes $450 that 
each header in use benefits the public each year. The twelve 
hundred made the last year benefited their owners and the public 
|540,000. The whole 6,000 headers in use last year benefited 
the public $2,700,000. The header is gaining in favor with 
the public, and more will be used each year hereafter if they can 
be obtained by farmers. This affiant states the above calculation 
is true, and the public is benefited as he has estimated above. 

K. W. ROSSETER. 



State of Illinois, ) 
County of Tazewell, i 

C. R. Cummings, of Pekin, Tazewell county. State of Illinois, 
being duly sworn, on oath states that he is largely engaged in 
farming, having several farms in Illinois, and was engaged as 
agent and collector for Barber and Hawley while they were en- 
gaged in manufacturing and selling ^^ Haines' Illinois Harvester" 
for years, and that he has been familiar with the harvester and 
its benefits to the patentee and public since the year 1859 ; that 
he knew from his own experience that the harvester was very dif- 
ficult to sell and introduce among farmers from being many years 
ill advance of their known wants, and subject to many prejudices 
about grain cut with them spoiling. 

Great objections were made to them, too, by manufacturers of 
other reapers and harvesters, increasing the ignorant prejudices 
of persons unacquainted with their real merit. Afliant states 



36 

that he knows from personal knowledge and supplied by the prac- 
tical experience of many farmers w^ho have tested the harvester as 
to its economy and saving of expenses over other harvesters, that 
grain can he harvested and saved with it at less than half the ex- 
pense of any other reaper or harvester now in use. 

He further states, from same personal knowledge and practical 
tests of others, that a harvester, well worked, will cut from 200 
to 400 acres each harvest. 

The cost of cutting with other liarvesters is about $3.00 per 
acre, while with the header the same work can be better done at 
a cost of only $1.50 per acre, so that each header cutting 300 acres 
of grain would save to its owner and to the public $450 each 
harvest ; and thus, if 1,500 headers be sold the coming year, the 
gain to the public will be $675,000 over and above the cost of 
harvesting the same number of acres of grain by other reapers and 
harvesters now in use. 

Affiant further states that he was well acquainted with the pe- 
cuniary circumstances of Jonathan Haines, patentee of the Illi- 
nois harvester, from 1859 to the time of his death, and knows that 
he was unable to pay his debts until a short time before his death : 
that affiant knows his wddow and five children are dependent on 
the patent fees arising from the manufacture of the Illinois har- 
vester for their support and maintenance. 

C. R. CUMMINGS. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 22d day of January, 

1870. 

WM. DON. MAUS, Xotary FMic, 

Pekin, Illinois. 



State of Illinois, ] 
Tazevjell County, j ' ' 

We, the undersigned, of said county, being sworn on oath, 
state that we have been acquainted with and used the Haines Illi- 
nois Harvester for the last ten years, cutting on an average four 
hundred acres (400) of wheat or other small grains each year ; in 
all cases the grain saved as well, and in some instances, better 
than that cut by a reaper or other harvesting machines. I have 
used, and seen used, some of the best reaping machines known, 
and know, from my own experience and the statement of good, re- 
liable farmers, that it costs less than one-half to cut grain with 



this liarvester than it does with a common reaper. Grain can be 
cut and stacked with ^^ Haines' Illinois Harvester" at less cost 
than to stack grain from the shock ; after having been cut with 
the header, if properly stacked when cut, saves better than that 
bound and shocked, being free from danger of heating and sprout- 
ing while in stack. 

Affiant states that, by using the " header," saved more than 
one-half the cost of cutting, and saving his grain over and above 
the cost of reaping. 

Affiant states that it costs at least $3.00 per acre to cut and save 
grain with a common reaper ; so that, on the average of 350 acres 
that he cuts with a ^^ Haines Harvester," he saves, at a low esti- 
mate, |525 each year. 

Affiant is informed, and believes^ there were 1,200 of these 
harvesters made, sold, and used the last year, which cut, say, 300 
acres of wheat or other small grains each, which, at a saving of 
$1.50 per acre, saved to the owner and the public $450,000. From 
same information, affiant states that the 6,000 of these machines 
now in use in the United States saves annually to the owners, 
and to the benefit of the public, $2,700,000. 

Affiant further states that this machine is more durable, less ex- 
pensive to keep in operation and repair, less liable to get out of 
order and make delay and damage in the harvest field, does its 
work better and more rapidly than any other harvesting and 
grain-saving machine before, and used by the public. Grain can 
be cut with this machine with much lighter work to men and 
teams employed to work with it than by any other reaper or 
harvester. Affiant states that he knew Jonathan Haines, the 
patentee of the ^^ Haines Hlinois Harvester," for 15 years before 
his death, in 1868, and knows that he was diligent in his en- 
deavors to introduce his machine to the public, but, on the account 
^ of prejudice on the part of the farmers in general, was only par- 
tially successful ; and that he has never received adequate 
remuneration for the time, skill, and expense incurred in invent- 
ing, patenting, and introducing the header to the public. Af- 
fiant believes that the merits of this harvester have never, until 
of late, been known and recognized by the farmers in general : 
that the machine is becoming more popular, and more will be sold 
in the year to come than there has been in the past. Affiant 
further states that he believes that the estimates of the benefits 



38 

from the use of Haines' Illinois Harvester is below rather than 
above the true value ; and that the above calculations and state- 
ments are true, to the best of his knowledge and belief. 

JOHN McKINSTRY, 
J. H. McKINSTRY. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, February 1, 1870. 
[n. s] WM. don. MAUS, Notary FuhUc. 



State of Illinois, \ 
County of Tazewell, ) 

John Schafer, of said county, being duly sworn, on his oath 
states that he has been acquainted with the manufacture, sale, 
and use of the '^^ Haines Illinois Harvester " for fifteen years past ; 
that he knows it is the most reliable machine for harvesting gra^ 
known to the public ; that it cuts and saves grain at less cost and 
with less waste and in better order, and with lighter labor to men 
and teams employed with it, than any other reaping or harvesting 
machine in use by the public. Having used one of these ma- 
chines for cutting my own grain and my neighbors' for the last 
three years, I speak from great practical experience of my own 
and that of many intelligent, practical farmers ; from such infor- 
mation I know, and therefore state, that this harvester will save 
one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) per acre on each acre of grain 
cut with it as compared with other harvesting and reaping ma- 
chines now in use by the public. 

This machine is more durable ; less expensive to keep in opera- 
tion and repair ; less liable to get out of order and make delay 
and damage in the harvest field ; does its work better and more 
rapidly than any other harvesting or grain-saving machine before 
and used by the public. 

Each one of these harvesters, well worked, will cut and save 
three hundred or more acres of wheat or other small grain each 
harvest, saving to the public on each acre so cut one dollar and a 
half, (|1.50,) making a saving to its owner and a benefit to the 
public of $450 each year on each harvester in use. 

Affiant is informed and believes that 1,200 of these machines 
were made, sold, and used the last year, benefiting the public by 
above calculations to the amount of $540,000. 

On same information, affiant believes that there are 6,000 of 



89 

these headers now in use in the United States. This number wuuUl 
benefit the public by their saving of expense each year $2,*700,000. 

Affiant further states that he knew Jonathan Haines, the pat- 
entee of the ^^ Haines Hlinois Harvester/' from 1852 till his 
death in 1868, and know that he has been diligent in his 
endeavors to introduce this header into general use, but on account 
of insufficient means and ignorant prejudice on the part of farmers 
in general, was only partially successful ; and that he has never 
received adequate remuneration for the time, skill, and expense 
incurred in inventing, patenting, and introducing the header to 
the public, and that he died poor, leaving his widow and children 
dependent on the income derived from this invention for support. 

Affiant further states that this harvester is becoming more pop- 
ular and in more demand each year^ and that there will be more 
sold each year from this time on than in the past year or years, 
so that there will be more in use each year hereafter than now ; 
and if the patent on this invention be extended by Congress for 
seven years from its expiration, the benefit to the public each 
year will be increased, and for the next seven years the aggregate 
benefit to the public will be thirty million dollars (130,000,000) 
or more. Affiant believes that the above calculations of benefit 
to the public derived from the use of the ^^ Haines Illinois Har- 
vester'' is too low rather than too high. 

JOHN SCHAFER. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 29th day of January, 

A. D. 1870. 

[>j. s] M. M. BASSETT, 

Notary Publie. 



State of Illinois, ) 
County of Tazeicell, j " 

Gideon H. Kupert, of Pekin, in said county, being duly sworn, 
on oath states that he has been well acquainted with the manu- 
facture, sale, use, and operations of the ^^ Haines Illinois Har- 
vester" for past twenty years. From personal experience in 
using this harvester in cutting his own grain, and from statements 
of other farmers who have tested its benefits and capacity to har- 
vest and save grain, affiant states that ''Haines' Illinois Harves- 
ter ' ' is the best and most reliable machine to harvest and save 
strain now in use. It cuts and secures the grain with more saving 



40 

of labor and less waste of grain, and with lighter work to men and 
teams employed to run the machine, than any other reaper or har- 
vesting machine now in use. Each one of these harvesters will 
cut 300 or more acres of wheat or other small grain each year 
when well worked, and at one dollar and a half (|1.50) less cost 
than with any other machine on each acre, making a saving or 
benefit to its owner and the public of |450 on each machine in use 
each year. Affiant is informed and believes there w^ere twelve 
hundred of these harvesters made, sold, and used last year, bene- 
fiting the public by their greater cheapness in harvesting $540,000 
for last year, over and above any other means of harvesting known. 
He is also informed and believes that there are about 6,000 of 
these machines now in use in the United States, benefiting the 
public each year, $2,700,000. The public demand for them is 
increasing, and affiant states more will be sold this year than 
last ; so that the great benefit of $2,700,000 each year, as stated 
above, will be increased each year as the sales become greater. 
So that each year's sales will add more than half a million dol- 
lars benefit to the public from the use of these harvesters, so that 
during an extended term of seven years of this patent, the public 
w^ould be benefited more than $30,000,000 from the use of this 
harvester. 

Affiant states that from long experience in cutting his own and 
neighbor's grain wath this and other harvesting machines, and 
from being present in the capacity of agent in starting and operat- 
ing this and other machines, he knows that the ^^ Haines Hlinois 
Harvester " is the best and only real labor and grain-saving har- 
vester now known to the public ; and that the above calculations 
and statements are true. And further sayeth not. 

GIDEON H. RUPERT. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 27th day of January, 
A. D. 1870. 
[N.a.J WM. DON. MAUS, 

Notary Public. 



State op Nebraska, » 
County of Plattsmouth, ) 

Elias Sage, of Plattsmouth, of said county, being first duly 
sworn, on his oath states, that he has been acquainted with the 
manufacture, sale and use of '^Haines' Hlinois Harvester" for 



41 

fifteen years past ; that he knows it is the most valuable machine 
for harvesting grain known to the public ; that it cuts and saves 
grain at less cost, and with less waste, and in better order, and 
with lighter labor to men and teams employed than any other 
reaping or harvesting machine in use by the public. Having 
used these harvesters for cutting my own grain and my neighbors, 
for past fifteen years, I speak from great practical experience of 
my own and that of many intelligent practical farmers. From 
such information I know, and therefore state, that this harvester 
will save one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) per acre in each acre 
of grain cut with it as compared with other harvesting and reap- 
ing machines now in use by the public. This machine is more 
durable, less expensive to keep in operation and repair^ less liable 
to get out of order and make delay and damage in the har.vest- 
field^ does its work better and more rapidly than any other har- 
vesting or grain-saving machine before and used by the public. 
Each one of these harvesters, well worked, will cut and save three 
hundred acres of wheat or other small grain, saving to the public 
on each acre, so cut, one dollar and a half each year — making a 
saving to its owner and a benefit to the public of $450 each year 
on each harvester in use. Affiant is informed, and believes, that 
twelve hundred of these machines were made, sold and used the 
last year, benefiting the public, by above statements, to the 
amount of $540,000. On same information, affiant believes there 
are now six thousand of them in use in the United States. This 
number would benefit the public, by their saving of expense each 
year, $2,700,000. Affiant knows that this harvester is becoming 
more popular and in more demand, and there will be more sold 
each year from this time than in the past year or years, so that 
there will be more in use each year hereafter than now ; and if 
the patent on this invention be extended by Congress for seven 
years from its expiration, the benefit each year to the public will 
be increased, and for the next seven years the aggregate benefit 
to the public will be thirty million dollars, or more. Affiant 
believes the above calculations of benefit to the public is too low, 
rather than too high, for the use of the Illinois Harvester. 

ELI AS SAGE. 



42 

AFFIDAVITS AS TO DILIGENCE 

I, Gideon H. Rupert, of the city of Pekin, county of Tazewell, 
and State of Illinois, being first sworn, on my oath state :. 

I knew Jonathan Haines, patentee of ^^ Haines' Illinois Har- 
vesters/'' and late of this place and now deceased, ever since the 
year 1836^ and know that he was an honest and industrious man. 
I know that he spent most of his time in making experiments in 
harvesting machines before 1849, when he obtained his patent on 
the ''harvester." After this time, till his death, he devoted all 
his time and all the means he had and could borrow and all the 
influence he had to improving, making and selling his harvesters. 
When he had spent all his own means in building a shop and 
making a few machines, which did not work well, because he 
had not means to get good material or suitable machinery, I 
loaned him money and furnished all the good material I was able 
to, and, by his hard work and perseverance, he began to make 
good machines, and I got one and cut my crop of wheat, oats, 
and other small grain. I then learned it w^as the greatest labor- 
saving machine that ever had been made in the United States, 
and did all I could to help him introduce the sale and use of them 
in my neighborhood. But farmers were very much prejudiced 
against headers by agents for a host of reapers and other ma- 
chines, who told them grain cut in that way (headed) would rot 
in the stack or spoil afterwards. Knowing the value of the ma- 
chine to farmers, as I was largely engaged in farming myself and 
had received so much benefit from them, I determined to take a 
general agency for their sale and try all I could to introduce 
them to public use. I traveled in Indiana, Illinois^ Missouri and 
Iowa to sell these harvesters for Jonathan Haines and A. and J. 
Haines, beginning in the harvest of 1858, and continued to sell 
machines and collect claims for them up till 1862. So strong 
was the prejudice against headers, that I found it very difficult 
to sell them anywhere, and in several places could make sales 
only on condition of giving good security that the grain cut with 
them w^ould not spoil, and I remained with the purchasers till 
the grain was threshed and found good, before they would pay or 
even give any obligation to pay for the machines I had thus 
induced them to try. Of the notes and accounts for headers sold 
by former agents, I found not over one-tenth were good and col- 



43 

lectible. 80 I came to the conclusion that notwithstanding it 
was tlie best machine for saving labor and doing good work, it 
was the hardest one to sell and induce farmers to try that I evei- 
knew. But for the last one or two years they are becoming con- 
vinced of tlie great value of these headers in saving labor and 
saving grain from waste in harvesting, and their use is becoming 
quite general. To tell all I know of Mr. Haines' difficulty, labor 
and disappointment in trying to introduce this machine to the 
public would tire any one to read, but I will here say, that I know 
he labored hard all the time I knew him and up to his death in 
making improvements in his machine, so as to make it better and 
better every year. And I know, too, that he never received one- 
quarter enough to reimburse him for his time, trouble and labor, 
and that he was largely indebted to me nearly all the time, and 
that he used every means in his power to pay his debts, and yet 
at his death he was still owing considerable. I was one of the 
appraisers of his estate after his death, and I know his effects and 
assets were small and not enough to j)ay his debts. He was a 
man of good habits, sober, and temperate in all things, a good 
Christian man, kind to the poor, and would give his last dollar 
to relieve a fellow sufferer. His family and widow need an exten- 
sion of this patent for their support ; and I think Congress should 
^ive it a liberal extension, so they may get some compensation 
for the great good the patentee did for the public, and did without 
any remuneration. If any patent ever was extended by Congress 
for the benefit of a patentee, his family, or to benefit the public, 
this one deserves a long extension, for it is of greater benefit to 
the farming community and really saves more than half the labor 
of harvesting small grain over ordinary reapers. 

GIDEON H. RUPERT. 



We hereby certify that we are merchants and business men of 
the city of Pekin, Illinois, and have resided here and been engaged 
in business at this place since 1855 ; that we knew Jonathan 
Haines, of this place, during his lifetime^ and know that he was 
engaged in the manufacture and sale of the '' Illinois Harvester '" 
durinec all the time from 1855 till 1863, and that he was indus- 
trious and enterprising, and constantly endeavoring to introduce 
his harvesting machines to public use, by himself and by all his 
influence through relatives and friends. We know, and therefore 



44 

.state here, that during all the time he was so engaged, up to a 
short time before his death, in 1868, he was very much embar- 
rassed, and unable to meet many of his debts contracted for 
material and labor to carry on the manufacture and sale of his 
harvesters. The firm of A. and J. Haines, of which he was a 
member, was embarrassed as much as he ; that after November, 
1863, he did not manufacture headers on his own account, nor did 
A. and J. Haines, from inability to procure money to carry on 
their shops, but received a patent fee from others, who made and 
sold them ; but he was still engaged in trying to extend their 
sale and collect claims due him for previous sales made by himself 
and A. and J. Haines ; that his widow and family are dependent 
for support on patent fees arising from sales of harvesters made 
under his patent, as he left but little property beside a half-interest 
in the machine shops in this place and some debts to be paid out 
of his estate. We believe, from statement of many farmers who 
have used the '"^Headers" that they are a very useful machine 
for harvesting grain, and should be widely introduced for general 
use of the public. 

J. WAGINSELLER, 
STEPHEN C. WHEELER. 
HENRY P. WESTERMAN, 
J. E. LEONARD, 

President First National Bank. 

F. W. LEONARD, 

Vice President First National Bank. 

F. SMITH, 

of F. <j- H. Smith Jj- Co. 

HALBE YELDER, 

of same Firm. 

D. 0. SMITH, 

of Teis Smith A- Co., Bankers. 

F. E. RUPERT, 
GEO. GREIGG, 

Banker. 

TEIS SMITH, 

REUBEN BERGSTRESSER. 

C. J. D. RUPERT. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 23d day of December, 
A. D. 1869. 

W. DON. MAUS, 

Notary Ptihlic, Pekin, III. 



The undersigned having been well acquainted with '' Haines' 
Illinois Harvester ' ' from its first introduction into the harvest 



45 

field up to the present time, and having dealt heavily in harvest- 
ing machines of different kinds for the last twenty-two years, 
have had good opportunities for knowing many of the obstacles 
in the way of and difficulties with which the patentee (Mr. Jona- 
than Haines) and all the manufacturers of this machine have had 
to encounter in introducing it into general use among the farmers. 

At first it was looked upon as an idle speculation, and when 
discovered that it possessed merit and utility, and if properly in- 
troduced would at once gain favor from the entire farming com- 
munity, all those dealing in and manufacturing harvesters of 
different kinds from this combined against it, and left nothing 
undone that could be done to prejudice farmers against it. So 
great was the prejudice thus created that farmers could scarcely 
be induced to take one as a gift, and for many years the machine 
was abandoned as worthless. But as the wheat-growing interests 
of the West began to expand, and farmers began to count their 
acres of wheat by the thousands, they were forced to look about 
for a better machine than was then in use to assist them in taking 
care of their large fields of grain, and finally the old '^Haines 
Harvester ' ' began to be talked of, and a few were manufactured 
from year to year — no prominent manufacturer considering it 
worth taking hold of. 

Finally, Mr. Haines, (the 2)atentee and inventor of the ma- 
chine,) who had previously exhausted all his means and credit 
in manufacturing and trying to introduce his machine into gen- 
eral use, collected means enough to again commence manufactur- 
ing, but so great the opposition by those manufacturing other 
harvesters, that he was forced to fail in his business, and for a 
long time his invention was lost sight of. 

A few years since a few manufacturers Avho had capital saw the 
need of such a harvester, and finding more merit in this inven- 
tion than in any other, began the manufacture of this harvester, 
and to sell it to farmers, and by great perseverance finally over- 
come all obstacles, and it is now acknowledged to be the best and 
most valuable harvester in the world. But not till within the 
past two or three years was it known to be a success ; in fact, not 
till within the past year was it known to be ?i perfect success. 

Owing to the difficulties with which Mr. Haines, the patentee, 
liad to encounter in manufacturing and introducing his machine, 
he was a poor man, and died so about two years since, leaving his 



46 

widow and children destitute. Yet, if the patent on this ma- 
chine, which expires in March next, should he extended hy Con- 
gress, now that the machine is known to he valuable, Mrs. Haines 
will have something to depend upon in her declining years for 
tlie support of herself and children. 



H. 0. GOODRICH. 



Jerskyvii,lk, ]\a.., Janaaru 24. 1870. 



State of Illinois, \ 
Cook County, j "' ' 

Beit remembered, that on this 25th day of December, A. D. 1869, 
before nie, Azariah T. Gait, a notary public, legally commis- 
sioned and qualified, for the city of Chicago, in the county and 
State aforesaid, personally appeared Thomas N. Gill^ who, being 
duly sworn, according to law, declares under oath, that he is now 
in business in said city of Chicago, but has resided at the city of 
Pekin, in the county of Tazewell, and State aforesaid^ since the 
year A. D. 183*7, and during all that time, and up to the death 
of Jonathan Haines, late of said Tazewell county, affiant was per- 
sonally and well acquainted with Jonathan Haines, and, also, 
with A. & J. Haines. Afiiant was at one time engaged in the 
business of banking in said city of Pekin, and during such time, 
and afterwards, the said A. & J. Haines, who were engaged in 
the manufacture and sale of the Haines header harvesting machine, 
patented by said Jonathan Haines, were largely indebted to afiiant 
and afiiant' s partners in business for loans made to assist 
them in carrying on said business, &c.; that at various times 
during affiant's acquaintance with said Jonathan Haines and said 
A. & J. Haines, affiant examined the details of their business, 
and was fully acquainted with what they were doing in the manu- 
facture and sale of the said harvesting machines ; and affiant knows 
that the said Jonathan Haines and A. & J. Haines managed their 
business prudently, worked industriously, and dealt honestly, 
and that the said Jonathan Haines and A. & J. Haines made no 
profits from the manufacture and sale of the said harvesting machines 
aforesaid, but, on the contrary, they were unable to pay their 
debts ; and affiant further declares that said Jonathan Haines 
died at last a poor man, after said Jonathan Haines had si)ent 
the greater part of his life in experimenting upon, perfecting and 
introducing the said harvesting machine. 



47 

Affiant states that the said Jonathan Haines was an industrious, 
sober man, of generous heart and christian spirit, and deserved 
the success that he never attained. Affiant feels that it is but just 
that the familj^ of the said Jonathan Haines should be assisted to 
derive some benefit from the life-long labor of the said Jonathan ; 
that the said harvesting machines are at last established in 
public favor, and are of great utility as a labor-saving invention. 

Affiant knows that the introduction of said machines to general 
use was attended with great difficulty, on account of the prejudice 
of farmers against them on the ground claimed by the manufac- 
turers of rival machines, that the grain cut with the Haines har- 
vester would rot in the stack. Affiant knows that said Jonathan 
Haines was but in ordinary circumstances all his life, and that he 
gave all his means to the perfection and introduction of said har- 
vesting machines. 

TH0MA8 N. (HLL. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 25th day of December, 
A. D. 1869. 

|>. s ] AZARIAH T. GALT, Notary FuUlc. 



State of Illinois, ) 
Cooh County, I " * 

Be it known that, on this 25th day of December, A. D. 1869, 
before me, Azariah T. Gait, a notary public, legally commis- 
sioned and qualified for the city of Chicago, in the county and 
State aforesaid, personally appeared Samuel F. Hawley, who, 
being duly sworn according to law, declares, under oath, that 
affiant is now a resident of said city of Chicago ; that in the year 
A. D. 1859, affiant went to the city of Pekin, in the State afore- 
said, and there engaged in the manufacture of the Haines Illinois 
Harvester, or heading machine ; that although the said machine 
liad then been in use for many years, affiant found great difficulty 
in selling machines, except in neighborhoods where the same had 
been thoroughly tried, because there was a great prejudice against 
it ; and the opening up of new territory for sale of the same has 
ever been attended with great difficulty, on account of the bitter 
opposition of rival machine manufacturers, and the opinion of 
farmers unacquainted with this machine, that grain cut by it 
could not be saved. Affiant on coming to Pekin became ac- 



48 

quainted with Jonathan Haines and A. and J. Haines, and knows 
that they were engaged in the manufacture of the heading ma- 
chine, and that they did not make money from the manufacture 
thereof. Affiant knows that said Jonathan Haines was an indus- 
trious, prudent, temj)erate man, and that he devoted his time, 
up to his death, after affiant became acquainted with him, to the 
perfection and introduction of the said header machine, and never 
did receive therefrom any adequate compensation for the invention 
and the labor he bestowed upon it. 

Affiant was engaged in the manufacture of said machines for 
eight years, and knows that it is the best labor-saving and grain- 
saving machine in use for harvesting grain ; that it is and was a 
hard machine to sell and introduce into use, but now the use 
thereof is becoming more general in territory where it has been 
thoroughly tried, and affiant has good reason to believe, and does 
believe, that if the patent on said machine is extended, that the 
family of the inventor will reap some portion of the reward which 
he deserved for his labor and skill. 

Affiant states that while affiant was engaged in the manufac- 
ture of the header machine, he paid to said Jonathan Haines a 
patent fee on each header made and sold. 

SAMUEL F. RAWLEY. 

Subscribed and sworn. to before me, this 25th day of December, 
A. D. 1869. 

[n. s.] AZARIAH T. GALT, Notanj Public. 



PATENTEE'S PETITION for P:XTENSI0N OF LETTERS-PATENT. 

To the Commissioner of Patents : 

The petition of Jonathan Haines, of the city of Pekin, in the 
county of Tazewell, and State of Hlinois, 

Respectfully Represents — 

That he has, by Letters Patent, dated on the 27th day of March , 
A. D. 1849, and reissued November 6, 1855, been the inventor 
and manufacturer of what is known as Haines' Illinois Harvester 
or heading machine, And that he has been engaged exclusively, 
by himself and with others from the date of said patent until last 
spring, in manufacturing said machine ; except the incidental 



49 

job and repair work, a shop of this kind will naturally draw, and 
which job-work formed a large share of our prosperity in business. 

The difficulty and cost of introducing a machine of this kind 
doing its work so very different from the common horse-power 
reapers, can only be known to those who have been engaged in 
such business. 

Notwithstanding my machine does its work so different from 
common reapers therefore very naturally requiring greater exei*- 
tion and cost to introduce it than would be necessary wdth a more 
common kind ; very many who have been engaged in the manu- 
facture of those common kind, have entirely failed in business or 
have transferred it in such a manner as to prevent utter bank- 
ruptcy, only two of which I will name in this connection w^ho at 
one time seemed to bid fair to rival, not only the smaller manu- 
facturers of the West, but even McCormick too. I refer to the 
John H. Manny establishment, at Kockford, Illinois, doing 
business under the name and style of Talcott, Emerson & Co., 
and J. C. Wright, of Chicago, manufacturer of the Atkins cele- 
brated automaton self-raking reaper and mower ; both of said 
machines being well known to the Patent-Office. 

The supposed danger of wheat spoiling in the stack when cut 
with my machine and stacked immediately, in connection w^ith 
the great number of shops that have commenced the manufacture 
of the common reapers in the last fourteen years, each exerting 
himself to have farmers believe his machine the best, and all 
acting as a unit in condemning the heading machine, have 
proved a fruitful source of hindrance to the successful introduc- 
tion of my machines. After the most diligent attention to and 
rigid economy in the business^ I find myself to be worth but little 
more than when I first embarked in the business, as the accom- 
panying affidavits will show. In fact, had it not been for the 
job-work done by us, amounting to about |500 each year, clear 
profits, and the machines sold wholesale to supply the Pacific 
country, we should have been forced to suspend business long before 
this. 

Mr. George Esterly, of Walworth county, Wisconsin^ w^ho 
commenced the manufacture of a machine in 1846, doing its work 
just like mine, w^as forced to abandon it in a few years at a very 
great loss. 

The necessary exertion to introduce my machine involves such 



50 

a cumpiicatiou of circumstances, such as machines being sent to 
many different and distant parts between the gulf of Mexico and 
the Northern lakes, with failure of sales, with accumulation of 
expenses in various ways incident to such business, and the dis- 
honesty of and embezzlement by agents and the bankruptcy of 
many that purchased machines, with breakage, miscarriage and 
destruction by fire, render it impossible to give a definite state- 
ment of our business ; leaving us the only alternative of coming at 
the result of our business, by estimating the value of our property 
and notes due us, after deducting our liabilities. 

I will state too, that in the year 1855 I patented a mowing 
machine^ and sold about $5,000 worth of rights in that machine, 
and have not manufactured myself, or the firms to which I have 
and do belong more than ten of said machines, while the money 
realized from the above-named sales was put into our business. 

Then I sold to Ansel Haines, in 1853, the one-half of my 
interest in my patent of March 29, 1849, for the sum of six thou- 
sand dollars, on a credit ; said Haines then entered into business 
with me in the manufactory of said Illinois harvesters, and has 
remained with me until the present ; but our profits being so 
limited that he has only paid me about one-half of the above sum. 

In order to the more rapid introduction of my Harvester, in the 
year 1855 we received Mr. Isaac A. Hawleyinto partnership with 
us for two years ; at the expiration of this time, said Hawley 
purchased of us the north half of the State of Illinois, for which 
he was to pay us in annual payments about |24,000, and what 
money has been received from him has been put into our business. 

Said Hawley then commenced the manufacture of said har- 
vesters to sell in his territory, but, in consequence of the same 
obstacles that met us in the same business, he failed to succeed as 
anticipated, consequently reducing our income from that source. 

The firm of A. and J. Haines continued the manufacturing of 
said machines until last April, when we found ourselves unable 
to continue the business ; consequently we rented our patent rights, 
shops and machinery, to Samuel J. Hawley and Samuel E. 
Barber. 

Said Barber and Hawley have made and sold on the territory 
rented of us 142 machines in the Mississippi valley the past 
season, and have made and sent to California for next year's 



51 

harvest 130 machines, for which they have and are to pay us $25 
on each machine sold on our territory as ahove stated. 

When I first embarked in this business, my property was worth 
about three thousand five hundred dollars, and at this time I still 
hold about that amount of property not included in the co-part- 
nership business. 

The property of A. and J. Haines is worth about eighteen 
thousand dollars, consisting of our shops and machinery, and the 
land on which they stand, and a small amount of personal prop- 
erty ; tlie real estate is covered by a mortgage to secure our 
creditors. 

We have about twenty thousand dollars due us, which, after 
paying expenses of collecting, and the very great loss by insol- 
vency, we expect to only be able to pay off all of our indebtedness, 
and release the above-named property from encumbrances. 

We have also expended about twelve hundred dollars in the 
prosecution of a suit against George H. Rugg, of Ottawa, Illinois, 
for an alleged infringement of my patent of 1849. 

Said Rugg appealed to the Supreme Court at Washington, 
where it is now pending, requiring an additional cost to prosecute 
it to its termination. 

Also, by the advice of an eminent lawyer and statesman_, now 
Chief Executive of the United States, we commenced a suit against 
Messrs. Talcott & Emerson^ of Rockford, for an alleged infringe- 
ment of my patent of 1849, but up to this time have not been 
able to bring them to trial ; also, their failure in business since the 
commencement of said suit renders it quite certain that nothing 
could be made off of them, even if judgment should be obtained in 
my favor, the present cost of which is about |500. Also, it cost 
us about |500 to search out a prior inventor to Jonathan Read, 
of the scolloped sickle, in consequence of being threatened with 
prosecution for an alleged infringement of said Jonathan Read's 
l)atent for said sickle. 

He therefore prays that the letters patent granted him on the 

27th day of March, 1849, be extended for the term of seven years 

from the 2vth day of March, 1863, he having paid Fifty Dollars 

into the Treasury of the United States, and complied Avith the 

other conditions of the act of Congress in such cases made and 

])rovided. 

JONATHAN HAINEJ^. 

NOYKMUKK 2t>, 1^(12. 



52 

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 

Pekin, Illinois, November 29, 1862. 
To the Commissioner of Fatent.^ : • 

In accordance with the acts of Congress of the United States of 
America, I submit for your consideration the following statement 
of receipts and expenditures in the manufacture of Haines' Illinois 
Harvester, from 1849 up to the present time : 

Amount of sales from 1849, up to April, 18()2, of 1,328 

machines $232,400 

Received as patent fees from several parties up to the 

present time 28,700 

$261,100 
Cost of building, altering, adding to, and experimenting 
with the above-named machines, in the above-named 

time $185,920 

Cost of selling and collecting, and losses of every 
kind, including freights, storage, and des- 
truction by fire 57,180 

243,100 

Balance in favor of patent $18,000 

There is also in anticipation, from the suit now pending in the 
Supreme Court of the United States, from George H. Rugg, the 
sum of twenty-three hundred dollars, which is, however, over- 
balanced by the cost already in said suit of twelve hundred dollars, 
in addition to what will yet be necessary to attend the suit to its 
end ; in connection with the cost in the Talcott & Emerson's case 
of five hundred dollars, and the fiYQ hundred dollars expended in 
the investigation of the validity of the Jonathan Read sickle 
patent. 

Of the foregoing receipts and expenditures, we still have about 
seventeen thousand dollars ; also, we have still due us, and uncol- 
lected, about twenty thousand dollars, which may fall far short of 
paying our indebtedness. 

The above-named balance of eighteen thousand dollars^ whicli 
consists of our shops, machinery, and land on which they are 
situated, except a very small amount of personal property 
belonging to the firm of A. & J. Haines, jointly, the one-half 
only belongs to myself, being nine thousand dollars : I also have 



53 

due me from Ansel Haines the sum of three thousand dollars. 
Total, $12,000. 

JONATHAN HAINES. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, by Jonathan Haines, this 
29th day of November, A. D. 1862. 
II. s.j A. lUlADLY, .V. P. 

Note. — By reference to my petition and the affidavits of C. 
Denton and Samuel E. Hawly^, it will be seen that I have 
made an error against myself of $3,500, reducing the balance in 
ray favor to |8,500, with the probability of a still greater deduc- 
tion by loss of debts and costs on suit. 

JONATHAN HAINES. 



DECISION OF COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS. 

U. S. Patent Office, March 26, 1863. 

In the matter of the application of Jonathan Haines for the ex- 
tension of the patent granted to him on the 27th day of March. 
1849, and reissued to him on the 6th day of November, 1855, for 
improvements in Harvesters. 

Under the statute and rules of the Office, the first inquiry by 
the Commissioner upon an application for an Extension is as to 
the novelty of the invention at the time the original patent was 
granted, and whether the reissue was confined to the original 
invention. 

The original claim in this case is as follows : 

'^Having thus described the construction and operation of my 
improved Harvester, what I claim therein as new and desire to 
secure by letters patent is suspending the frame which carries 
the conveyor reel and cutter upon the axles of the wheels A A, 
when the frame thus suspended is hinged to the tongue and ren- 
dered capable of being turned upon its bearings by means of a 
lever for the purpose of elevating and depressing the cutter as 
herein set forth." 

The claim in the reissued patent is as follows : 

'' Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, what 
1 claim therein as new and desire to secure by letters patent is 
the combination with a frame, nearly balanced on its supporting 
wheels and a tongue hinged to said frame, a lever connected to 
one, and projecting towards the driver's stand or seat on the 



54 

other J so that the driver, who is the sole conductor of the ma- 
chinCj may from said stand or seat raise or depress the cutters at 
pleasure during the operation of the machine, for cutting the grain 
or grass at any suitable height above the ground, or for passing 
over any intervening obstacles, substantially as described. 

"' I also claim in combination with the operative parts of a har- 
vesting machine, a conveyor which first carries the cut grain 
across the machine, and then elevates it so as to discharge the 
grain into the bed of a wagon driven alongside of the machine, 
when the conveyor frame is connected to the bed by a flexible 
joint, in manner and for the purpose described." 

No objection has been found to the claim under the original 
])atent, and although the claim under the reissued patent is ne- 
larged, yet its scoj^e does not go beyond what was contained in 
the original patent ; some unnecessary restrictions of the original 
patent are removed, and the two claims under the reissue em- 
brace features to which Mr. Haines seems to have been fairly en- 
titled as the original and first inventor. 

Pending the application of Haines for a reissue, an interference 
was declared with an application for reissue, by George H. Rugg, 
on the subject-matter involved in the first clause of Haines' claim, 
and a decision rendered in favor of Haines as the first inventor. 

The matter was subsequently submitted to the court on the 
question of infringement, and decided in favor of Haines. 

The subject of this claim is that to which the remonstrants seem 
mainly to direct their opposition ; but thus far no sufiicient ob- 
jection has been found, and although every feature of this claim 
may be found to have been sejmrately used prior to the alleged 
invention of Haines, no harvesting machine has been clearly 
identified as containing such a combination as is found in that of 
this applicant for extension. 

It is complained by the opposing parties that Haines puts a 
construction upon his claim so broad as to interfere with partiev«« 
not using the invention. 

This would seem to imply an assent to the claim, if correctly 
interpreted. 

To set this matter at rest, however, Mr. Haines has filed in this 
Oftice a disclaimer, in the following words : 

'' While on this point of my patent, and to set forever at rest, 
the matter of broad construction of my first claim, and which will 
effectually answer the greater part of counsel's argument, of tho 



00 

5th inst., I will say, that, notwithstanding all that may have 
been said and done heretofore in favor of the first claim in my in- 
vention, extending to and covering hinged tongues, with levers, 
attached to liarvesting or mowing machines when the teams were 
harnessed in front of the machine, and drew said machines after 
them, I now disclaim attaching any such meaning hereafter to 
my said first claim ; but do declare that, the said first claim in 
my patent now sought to be extended is only valid when applied 
to harvesters or mowers that are driven in advance of the teams 
that propel them." 

The claim is for a combination of certain specified parts sub- 
stantially in the manner described ; and as these parts have not 
been found so combined prior to the invention of Haines, his 
claim must be admitted. 

It is worthy of note in this connection, that under the extended 
patent of Jonathan Kead, originally granted in 1842, a reissue 
was granted August 17, 1856, in six divisions, in one of which, 
marked D, a claim was allowed in language nearly identical with 
that of Haines. 

I have examined carefully the original papers and patent of 
Read, and find no such combination as that claimed under this 
division of his reissue. 

The frame is not "balanced,'' nor nearly so, and there is no 
'' lever connected with one and projecting towards a driver's seat 
or stand on the other." 

The lever is connected with the frame, and projects towards the 
driver's stand on the frame. 

If similar language can describe dissimilar machines, then this 
is a case in point, for the diflerence between the two machines is 
too palpable to need further analysis. 

The striking diflerence of arrangement apparent from an in- 
spection of the drawings and models of these two machines may 
to some extent account for the fact that no interference was de- 
clared between Haines and Read. 

As regards the question of usefulness to the public the report 
of sales establishes its merits in this particular, 1,328 machines 
having been sold since the commencement of the patent, a testi- 
monial not unimportant as to the utility of the invention is can- 
didly oftered by the parties opposing the extension in the follow- 
ing terms : 

' ^ It is likewise admitted that Haines' machine can only be used 



■)6 

proiitably by large farmers, which comprises but a small portion 
of the agricultural community." 

The parties undoubtedly have had the best of opportunities for 
judging of the utility of the invention, and it is no disparagement 
to show that it is not successful for purposes to which it is not 
adapted. 

If it can be used profitably by large farmers, it is adapted to a 
public necessity, and is so far useful. 

In regard to the questions of remuneration and ascertained 
value of the invention, there is sufficient evidence that Haines has 
not been remunerated commensurately with the value of the in- 
vention to the public. 

In the extensive grain-growing districts of the Northwest, and 
upon the Pacific coast, where Haines' Harvester has been intro- 
duced, it has been regarded as a much cheaper and more econom- 
ical machine for harvesting grain than most others. 

It is conceded^ we believe, that such machines as his will cut 
more grain in a given time than ordinary machines ; that it does 
away entirely with all binding, shocking and frequent handling 
incident to the use of a common reaper. 

It thus saves much time — a valuable item in the harvest season 
— and saves expense in threshing, as so small an amount of straw 
is generally cut with the heads. 

Mr. Haines estimates the invention worth to the public one 
million of dollars per year, which is undoubtedly extravagant ; 
but I am forced to admit that it is of great value, and hence have 
come to the conclusion that, even admitting the amount charged 
by the remonstrants as the sum he has received, I am of opinion 
he has not received such compensation as the law contemplates 
that the inventor of a valuable improvement should receive. 

The statement of Haines, which was duly filed, under oath, 
shows a balance in favor of the patent of only |18,000, which is 
evidently too small^ as he has charged losses and other items to 
the patent which should not have been thus presented in tlie 
account. 

The estimates made by the opposing parties, from the evidence 
and various data, make the amount to be credited to the patent 
more than ten times greater than that made by Haines. 

This great discrepancy arises from the different estimates put 
upon the cost of building, and the average selling price of the 



57 

machines ; and the opponents of the extension, in my opinion, 
have not appreciated, by even an approximate consideration, the 
time, trouble and expense of introducing a new machine, and one 
so different from most others used for the same purpose, into 
public favor and use. 

Mr. Haines has presented and conducted his application, until 
recently, without the aid of experienced attornies ; and while I am 
free to admit that he has not strictly complied with the letter of 
the rules of the Office in the taking of testimony, I conceive that 
he has honestly come within the spirit of the requirements of the 
law and the rules of the Office in presenting the facts of his case. 

There is not the slightest evidence of intention of fraud on the 
part of the applicant, and it will scarcely be contended that the 
rights of a meritorious inventor, who has largely benefited the 
Country, should be deprived of the rights secured to him by law 
simply because he happens not to be an expert in technicalities of 
the rules of practice. 

It has been the judicious and equitable practice of the Office to 
look over the want of conformity to the strict rules of the Office 
where inventors have themselves conducted their applications, 
and in no instance have I found a case more deserving of this lib- 
erality than the present one. 

I have been the more liberal in granting extensions of patents in 
consideration of the decided action of Congress upon this subject, 
as shown in the law of 1861, which extends all patents granted 
since the enactment of that law three years beyond the time 
therefore allowed. 

In reference to the broad construction which it is claimed has 
been assumed by Haines upon his first claim, it will be seen, in 
another part of his opinion, that he disclaims for the future any 
such construction, and he has now formally filed in this Office a 
full disclaimer of such construction ; has paid the necessary fees, 
and thus limits his claims to the invention specifically described 
and to a harvest machine. 

It is therefore hereby ordered, that said patent be extended for 
the term of seven years from and after the third day of April, 

1863. 

D. P. HOLLOWAY. 



LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 




002 758 634 n 



